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Structure and expression of a gene encoding the large subunit of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase (rbcL) in the colourless euglenoid flagellate Astasia longa

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Abstract

A gene encoding the large subunit of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase (Rubisco) was identified on a circular 73 kb DNA from the colourless euglenoid flagellate Astasia longa. The rbcL gene of Astasia extends over 3968 bp. It is a split gene interrupted by seven introns as compared to nine intervening sequences in the rbcL gene of the phylogenetically related Euglena gracilis. Coding sequences as well as the positions of the introns within this gene are highly conserved in comparison with the Euglena rbcL except that two introns are missing in Astasia. The alignment of the amino acid sequences deduced from the nucleotide sequences of rbcL of Astasia and Euglena shows 82% identical amino acids whereas 15% of the amino acids represent conservative changes. A 1.5 kb transcript of the rbcL gene was revealed by northern blot analysis of Astasia RNA. By immunoblot analysis the gene product of rbcL was detected as a 53 kDa polypeptide. Genes for components of the chloroplast transcriptional and translational systems encoded by chloroplast DNA of plants and green algae are conserved on the 73 kb DNA of Astasia [24, 25, 26]. From our finding that Astasia obviously is capable of synthesizing the Rubisco large subunit one must conclude that these genes are expressed and form functional plastid transcriptional and translational systems.

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Author notes

  1. Gerhard Siemeister & Wolfgang Hachtel

    Present address: Medizinische Fakultät, Institut für Biochemie, D-5000, Köln 41, FRG

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Botanisches Institut der Universität Bonn, Kirschallee 1, D-5300, Bonn 1, FRG

    Gerhard Siemeister & Wolfgang Hachtel

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  1. Gerhard Siemeister
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  2. Wolfgang Hachtel
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Additional information

Dedicated to Professor Dieter Klämbt, Bonn, on the occasion of his 60th birthday. The nucleotide sequence data reported will appear in the EMBL, GenBank and DDBJ Nucleotide Sequence Databases under the accession number X16004

Dedicated to Professor Dieter Klämbt, Bonn, on the occasion of his 60th birthday. The nucleotide sequence data reported will appear in the EMBL, GenBank and DDBJ Nucleotide Sequence Databases under the accession number X16004

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Siemeister, G., Hachtel, W. Structure and expression of a gene encoding the large subunit of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase (rbcL) in the colourless euglenoid flagellate Astasia longa . Plant Mol Biol 14, 825–833 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00016515

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00016515

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