宁夏枸杞八氢番茄红素合成酶基因的克隆与序列分析

类胡萝卜素是植物叶绿体光合作用的辅助色素,并能保护叶绿素免受高温强光的破坏(Bartley et al.,1995).现在越来越多的医学研究表明,类胡萝卜素与人类健康密切相关.约有10%的类胡萝卜素是维生素A的前体(Krinsky,1989).据统计,每年有70多个国家的3 000多万儿童因缺乏维生素A而造成致命性疾病(Cheryl et al.,1997).此外,类胡萝卜素在防癌抗癌、预防心血管疾病、增强人体免疫力等方面起着重要的作用(陶俊等,2002).通过对菲律宾、加拿大和中国的食道癌患者的调查已证明β-胡萝卜素能延缓疾病的进程(韩雅珊,1999).由于类胡萝卜素在许多植物中含量较低,并且难以用化学方法合成.因此,利用基因工程手段调控类胡萝卜素的代谢积累,进而大量生产类胡萝卜素已成为研究者们所共识的研究方向之一.目前通过基因工程手段已获得转类胡萝卜素合成酶基因的"金大米"和"金油菜"(陶俊等,2002).

Cloning and Sequence Analysis of Phytoene Synthase cDNA from Lycium barbarum

A novel 1.3 kb cDNA was amplified from cDNA library of Lycium barbarum by PCR. This cDNA clone was further inserted into pGEM-T. The sequence analysis showed that the cDNA was 1 292 bp long with an open reading frame of 1 275 bp, and encoded a polypeptide of 425 animo acids. Its cDNA sequence showed 75% - 80% identity, and the amino acid sequence shared 70% - 80% identity with those of PSY from Lycopersicon esculentum, Capsicum annuum, Arabidopsis thaliana and Zea mays respectively, indicating that the full-length PSY cDNA was isolated from L. barbarum.