Cloning and Analysis of LEAFY Homologous Gene Fragment From Tung Oil Tree

Tung oil tree is a unique industrial oil-pressing plant in China.A pair of degenerate primers was designed according to the conservative regions of the floral meristem identity genes——LFAFY(LFY)homologous genes.A fragment of this homologous gene of about 1 050 bp was amplified by polymerase chain reaction(PCR)using the pair of degenerate primers and the genomic DNA of Tung oil tree.The results suggest that a fragment of LFY homologous gene named TUNG lfy is obtained.The sequence analysis indicates that there is an intron of 639 bp,and two exons,one being 294 bp and the other 126 bp,in the fragment,and the exons encode 135 amino acids.It is also found that the homology reaches 88%~97% of the other LFY homologous gene,and especially for Populus tomentosa carr,the homology reaches the highest level(97%).This result suggests that LFY gene functions similarly as other LFY homologous gene.