Journal of Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology
  • Year: 1999
  • Volume: 8
  • Issue: 1

Molecular Cloning and Characterization of FATTY ACID ELONGATION1 (BJFAE1) Gene of Brassica juncea

  • Author:
  • J Venkateswari, S Kanrara, P B Kirtia, V G Malathib, V L Chopraa,
  • Total Page Count: 3
  • Page Number: 53 to 55

aNational Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi-110012, India

bAdvance Centre for Plant Virology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi-110012, India

*Corresponding author

Abstract

The Brassica juncea homologue of Arabidopsis thaliana FAE1 gene, which is responsible for elongation of fatty acid chain length from C18 to C20 and C22 was amplified via PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) using heterologous primers. The PCR product was cloned into pGEM-T vector, subcloned and sequenced. The BJFAE1 has 1536-nucleotides and shares 93.6% homology with the A. thaliana counterpart. Southern analysis, using the PCR product as probe, indicated that FAE1 gene is of the same size in all the cultivated Brassica species, i.e. B. Juncea, B. nigra, B. campestris, B. oleracea, B. napus and B. carinata. It expresses strongly only in the developing seed and podwali.

Keywords

Brassica juncea, erucic acid, fatty acid elongation, triacylglycerol, very long chain fatty acid.