title: Isolation and characterization of a new mannose-binding lectin gene from Taxus media.
abstract: In this paper, we report the cloning and characterization of the first mannose-binding lectin gene from a gymnosperm plant species, Taxus media. The full-length cDNA of T. media agglutinin (TMA) consisted of 676 bp and contained a 432 bp open reading frame (ORF) encoding a 144 amino acid protein. Comparative analysis showed that TMA had high homology with many previously reported plant mannose-binding lectins and that tma encoded a precursor lectin with a 26-aa signal peptide. Molecular modelling revealed that TMA was a new mannosebinding lectin with three typical mannose-binding boxes like lectins from species of angiosperms. Tissue expression pattern analyses revealed that tma is expressed in a tissue-specific manner in leaves and stems, but not in fruits and roots. Phylogenetic tree analyses showed that TMA belonged to the structurally and evolutionarily closely related monocot mannose-binding lectin superfamily. This study provides useful information to understand the molecular evolution of plant lectins.
authors.affiliation: Plant Biotechnology Research Center, School of Agriculture and Biology, Fudan-SJTU-Nottingham Plant Biotechnology R and D Center, School of Life Sciences and Technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University,Shanghai 200030, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Guoyin
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kai
authors.forename: Lingxia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Jingui
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Zhiqi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Miao
authors.forename: Xiaofen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Kexuan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tang
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000378:metabolism; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D037241:Mannose-Binding Lectins / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D020946:Taxus / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D037241:Mannose-Binding Lectins