Analysis of the Clone and Expression of the Aquaporin Gene of Banana

[Objective] The relationship between banana fruit and water metabolism was understood.[Method] Based on suppression subtractive hybridization from the library(SSH),a cDNA sequence was obtained,5′and 3′ RACE primers were designed;and then,the gene fragments at the 5′and 3′ end were amplified in the banana fruit and RT-PCR method was used to explore the gene expression in banana organizations.[Results]A 1 132 bp cDNA with 861 bp open reading frame encoding a 286 amino acids aquaporin ortholog,named MaPIPl;1,was successfully cloned and characterized from the fruit of banana(Mu sa sp.,AAA group,Cavendish subgroup,cultivar 'Williams').The deduced MaPIP1;1 protein contained six putative transmembrane domains with two highly conserved motifs of asparagine-proline-alanine(NPA) and aromatic/arginine(ar/R) region found in the major intrinsic protein(MIP) family.The MaPIP1;1 exhibited the sequence identity to rice gene OsPIP1;2(94.1%).Semi-quantitative RT-PCR revealed that MaPIPl;1 was constitutively expressed in all of the tissues of banana.[Conclusion]There could be a relationship between was MaPIPl;1 and water metabolism of banana fruit.