Molecular Cloning and Sequence Analysis of Ribosomal Protein Genes in Maize

Abstract

Ribosomal proteins are the essential components of ribosome, playing an important role in cell, involved protein synthesis and some other enzyme activities. In the current study, five ribosomal protein genes were successfully cloned from the maize (Zea mays L.) inbred line Southern 202 with reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) strategy. All of them were sequenced and analyzed preliminarily. The results showed that the complete coding regions of RPS9, RPS10, RPS14, RPS16 and RPS18 genes encode mature proteins with 193, 179, 150, 148 and 152 amino acids (AA), respectively. Bioinformatics analysis using the related data within NCBI/GenBank indicated that these sequences share high similarities at both DNA and protein levels. But same gene not only can encode different AA in the different variety in same species, but the number of encoded AA residues is probably different. Whereas in animals especially mammalian, the DNA and protein sequences of ribosomal protein genes have higher coincidence, and the number of AA residues encoded is very stable. The knowledge stated here could be beneficial for maize breeding programs and studying the functions of ribosomal proteins

Keywords

• Maize (Zea mays L.), Ribosomal protein gene, Cloning, Bioinformatics analysis