An unusual K-box sequence of a maize MADS-box gene

When maize genomic DNA was amplified with the degenerate primers recognizing the K-box sequence of the agamous-class MADS-box genes, we obtained a 190-bp fragment similar in length to the product of agamous cDNA amplification. This amplicon comprises almost complete sequences of exons 3 and 5, a short stretch identical to the corresponding sequence of the intron 3 in the maize genes zmm1 and zag2, and a longer stretch 87% homologous to the corresponding sequence of the intron 4 in zmm1. The amplicon can be a fragment of a transposed sequence.