• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.10
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• pp.3756-3759
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• 2011

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.265-274
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• 2008

Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) are multifunctional proteins encoded by a large gene family divided into Phi, Tau, Theta, Zeta, Lambda and DHAR classes on the basis of sequence identity. The Phi(F) and Tau(U) classes are plant-specific and ubiquitous. Their roles have been defined as herbicide detoxification and responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. Fifty-two members of the GST super-family were identified in the Arabidopsis thaliana genome, 13 members of which belong to the Phi class of GSTs (AtGSTFs). Based on the sequence similarities of AtGSTFs, 11 BAC clones were identified from Brassica rapa. Seven unique sequences of ORFs designated the Phi class candidates of GST derived from B. rapa (BrGSTFs) were detected from these 11 BAC clones by blast search and sequence alignment. Some of BrGSTFs were present in the same BAC clones indicating that BrGSTFs could also be clustered as usual in plant. They were mapped on B. rapa linkage group 2, 3, 9 and 10 and their nucleotide and amino acid sequences were highly similar to those of AtGSTFs. In addition, in silico analysis of BrGSTFs using Korea Brassica Genome Project 24K oligochip and microarray database for cold, salt and drought stresses revealed 15 unigenes to be highly similar to AtGSTFs and six of these were identical to one of BrGSTFs identified in the BAC clones indicating their expression. The sequences of BrGSTFs and unigenes identified in this study will facilitate further studies to apply GST genes to medical and agriculture purposes.