GENES ENCODING THE SMALL SUBUNIT OF RIBULOSE 1,5-BISPHOSPHATE CARBOXYLASE OXYGENASE IN PHASEOLUS-VULGARIS L - NUCLEOTIDE-SEQUENCE OF CDNA CLONES AND INITIAL STUDIES OF EXPRESSION

The small subunit of ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (EC 4.1.1.39) in the French bean Phaseolus vulgaris L. is encoded by a small gene family consisting of a minimum of three members. Three small subunit genes (rbcS genes) represented in a light-grown primary leaf cDNA library were characterised by sequencing two cDNAs which were full-length and one which was deficient in part of the sequence encoding the transit peptide. The cDNA clones are identical in their coding sequences, for both the transit peptide and the mature polypeptide, but divergent in their untranslated sequences. The derived amino acid sequence is very similar to that reported for other species, although the first amino acid of the mature polypeptide is isoleucine, which differs from the methionine found in all other higher plant rbcS genes. Surprisingly, one of the cDNA clones contains two introns, which are at positions conserved in rbcS genes from other species. It is concluded that this cDNA resulted from the cloning of an unprocessed transcript. Alternative polyadenylation sites are found for two of the genes. Expression of the rbcS genes in the primary leaves is stimulated by light, although transcripts can readily be detected in dark-grown leaves. Expression is also organ-specific, as in other species. The frequency of cDNA clones in the library indicates that the different genes show quantitative differences in expression and S1 nuclease analysis suggests that individual rbcS genes are photoregulated.