CLONING OF FRUCTOKINASE GENE FROM LONGAN FRUIT AND BIOINFORMATICS ANALYSIS

Using the total RNA extracted from longan fruit (Dimocarpus longan Lour. ‘Shixia’) as template, the primers were designed according to the reported sequence of the fructokinase gene (FRK gene) in other plants. The full length cDNA of the gene was cloned using a combination of RT-PCR and RACE-PCR, which was named DlFRK with 1633 bp of in full-length including a 1011 bp-ORF. DlFRK was predicted to encode 337 amino acids. DlFRK had the three features of the phosphofructokinase B type family of carbohydrate kinase, and it also had both ATP and sugar binding domains. Through the NCBI analysed, we found that there was high homology between the DlFRK protein and amino acid sequences encoded by the FRK gene, such as, Citrus unshiu, Arabidopsis thaliana, Medicago truncatula, Solanum lycopersicum and Eriobotrya japonica, etc.