African Journal of
Biotechnology

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Biotechnol.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1684-5315
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJB
  • Start Year: 2002
  • Published Articles: 12481

Full Length Research Paper

Molecular cloning, characterization and functional analysis of a 3-hydroxy-3- methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase gene from Jatropha curcas

Juan Lin*, Yuanjie Jin, Mingqi Zhou, Xin Zhou and Jingya Wang
State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Morgan-Tan International Center for Life Sciences, Fudan-SJTU-Nottingham Plant Biotechnology R and D Center, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
Email: [email protected]

  •  Accepted: 15 May 2009
  •  Published: 04 August 2009

Abstract

3-Hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMGR, EC: 1.1.1.34) catalyzes the first committed step in mevalonic acid (MVA) pathway for biosynthesis of isoprenoids. The full-length cDNA encoding HMGR was isolated from Jatropha curcas for the first time (designated as JcHMGR), which contained a 1950 bp ORF encoding 584 amino acids. The JcHMGR genomic DNA sequence was also obtained, revealing JcHMGR had 4 exons and 3 introns. The deduced JcHMGR protein showed high identity to other plant HMGRs and contained 2 transmembrane domains and a catalytic domain. The potential significance of JcHMGR gene was also discussed.

 

Key words: Jatropha curcas, RACE, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase, color complementation assay.