Structure and expression of three light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b-binding protein genes in Arabidopsis thaliana

The genome of Arabidopsis thaliana is exceedingly small, in part because it lacks the large middle repetitive DNA component characteristic of other plants. In this paper we have characterized a member of the low copy DNA component: the gene family for the light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b-protein. This gene family is unusual in that it contains far fewer members than the 7-16 coding sequences for this protein found in other plants. We used cross-hybridization with a Lemna gene encoding a light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b-protein to isolate 3 genes from Arabidopsis, all of which are clustered on an 11-kb genomic clone. Southern blot analysis suggests that there is a fourth related gene in Arabidopsis. Sequence analysis of the three genes demonstrates that within the translated region the nucleic acid sequence homology is 96%, the deduced amino acid sequence of the mature proteins is identical for the three genes, and two of the genes have a high degree of sequence homology in both their 5' and 3' immediate flanking regions. The genes have regulatory sequences typical of eukaryotic genes upstream of the translation start sites. However, not all of these genes are equally expressed in plants grown under normal light-dark conditions.