Xyloglucan endotransglycosylase is an identifi ed relaxation factor with functions of easing and extending of plant cell walls. Its activities are directly related to plant growth and elongation of organisms. Anthocephalus chinensis is a tall and fast growing evergreen tree species. We cloned the full cDNA sequence of AcEXT genes which is abundantly expressed in the cambium of A. chinensis. The sequence analysis of nucleotides and amino acids revealed the presence of a 1396 bp full cDNA sequence, including a 960 bp complete open reading frame (ORF) encoding a 320 amino acid protein. The deduced amino acid sequence of AcXET was homologous to the other known XET proteins and contained the conserved EIDFE catalytic site which was specifi c to all the XETs. Our data should serve as a foundation for further insight into AcXET gene molecular mechanisms during wood formation and cell wall engineering of woody plants.

A full-length cDNA sequence of xyloglucan endotransglycosylase gene (XET), abundantly expressed in the cambium of Anthocephalus chinensis was cloned by conserved PCR, rapid-amplification of cDNA ends and by chromosome walking. Analytical results of the DNA sequence show that a 912 bp complete open reading frame (ORF) encoded a 303-amino acid protein was in the 1205 bp full cDNA sequence. The deduced amino acid sequence of AcXET, which contained the conserved specific EIDFE catalytic site sequence to XETs was homologous to the other known XET proteins. In order to study the gene function of AcXET and obtain transgenic plants, a plant expression vector pBIAcXET was constructed by recombinating the AcXET fragment from the cloning vector pMD19AcXET and the binary vector pBI121 between the XbaI and SmaI sites. The fragment of AcXET gene was inserted between the CaMV 35S promotor and the coding region of the GUS gene in pBI121. The identification results show that the plant expression binary vector pBIAcXET was constructed successfully. These results lay the foundation for studying the molecular mechanism of AcXET gene during wood formation.