Late embryogenesis abundant protein in Arabidopsis thaliana homologous to carrot ECP31

Using carrot ECP31 cDNA as a probe, we isolated AtECP31 cDNA from a seed library of Arabidopsis thaliana. The AtECP31 cDNA contained an open reading frame of 256 amino acids. Its deduced amino acid sequence showed more than 60% identity with those of DCECP31, ZMRAB28 and GHLEA D-34 which are late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins of carrot, maize and cotton, respectively. Northern blot analysis showed that the transcripts of AtECP31 accumulated specifically in mature seeds. The results suggest that AtECP31 cDNA, which encodes a LEA protein in group 5, might be involved in maturation and desiccation tolerance of seeds. Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) mapping showed that AtECP31 gene was present on chromosome 3. Cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence (CAPS) mapping allowed us to map more accurately the AtECP31 gene in the region of 28.3-29.6 cM of chromosome 3.