Cloning and sequence analysis of LEAFY homologous gene from loquat

In order to study the molecular mechanism of floral formation on loquat, a pair of degenerate primers was designed according to the conservative regions of the plant floral meristem identity gene-LEAFY (LFY) homologous genes. A (1 317) bp fragment of LFY homolog gene was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using the genomic DNA of 'Zao Zhong No.6' loquat cultivar. The fragment was cloned into pUCm-T vector, and then sequenced. The results suggest that a fragment in the 3′-end of LFY homologous gene named ejLFY was obtained. The sequence analysis indicated that there was an intron of 911 bp in the fragment, and the exons encoded 130 amino acids. The ejLFY gene was registered in GenBank with the accession number AY551183. After the deduced amino acid sequence of the fragment was submitted to GenBank to blast, it was found that the homology reached 94% to most of the other LFY homologous gene, especially to Malus family-apple, the homology reached the highest level (98%). This result suggested that ejLFY gene might have the same function as other LFY homologous gene.