Abstract

Selaginella tarmariscina is a resurrection plant and we have cloned several genes for dehydration in S. tarmariscina through differential display. One of the gene (DQ471954) which has 68% homology with Arabidopsis thaliana thylakoid lumen 18.3 kDa protein (TLP18.3) gene. This gene has a domain of unknown function (DUF477) which is a family of uncharacterized protein. The expression pattern of the A. thaliana TLP18.3 reveals that mRNA expression and protein accumulation up-regulated during dehydration. The protein coding region of A. thaliana TLP18.3 gene consist of 3 exons and 4 introns encoding 285 amino acid with putative chloroplast transit peptide (cTP) target sequence at N-terminal. GFP fusion protein with N-terminal 80 amino acid residue reveals that this fusion protein is localized into chloroplast. Our data strongly suggest that A. thaliana TLP18.3 gene has important role in dehydration process.

Key words: Arabidopsis thaliana, dehydration, gene regulation, TLP18.3, thylakoid lumen.