Cloning and Expression Analysis of the Glutathione S-transferase Gene ( CcGST1 ) Related to Drought from Cajanus cajan

One glutathione S-transferase (GST) gene associated with the drought responsiveness was cloned from Cajanus cajan to explore the stress resistance mechanism by rapid amplification of cDNA ends. It was designated CcGST1 and contained an open reading frame of 669 bp, which encodes 223 amino acid residues. It also contained conserved glutathione S-transferase N- and C-terminal domain. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that CcGST1 was closely related to GST from other legume plants, such as Glycine max and Phaseolus aculifolius. Subcellular localization analysis indicated that CcGST1 was targeted to the chloroplast. By fluorescent quantitative real-time PCR, CcGST1 mRNA transcripts were detectable in all tissues, with the highest transcriptional level found in the root. Furthermore, the expression of CcGST1 transcript was markedly induced by drought stimulation. The result suggested that the CcGST1 might be involved in drought response in C.cajan.