Amino Acid Sequence Homology of Hybrid Poplar O-methyltransferuse Involved in Lignin Biosynthesis

Amino Acid Sequence Homology of Hybrid Poplar O-methyltransferuse Involved in Lignin Biosynthesis

In $\lambda$-Zap II vector system, a cDNA library was constructed for the developing secondary xylem mRNA from hybrid poplar, Populus nigra x maximowiczii. A cDNA clone of 1.5 kb in size, pOMTB1.4 encoding a lignin-bispecific O-methyltransferase was screened by plaque hybridization using a probe of 540 bp cDNA amplified by polymerase chain reaction from the cDNA library and identified by nucleotide sequencing. Its nucleotide sequence contains one open reading frame of 366 amino acids. The deduced amino acid sequence in comparison with that of Populus tremuloides showed the differences of 9 amino acids and revealed 85-99% homology among alfalfa, poplar and aspen.