Nucleotide sequence of a rice [Oryza sativa] genomic clone showing high homology with RNA polymerase beta subunit gene

A genomic clone was isolated with a probe of hygromycin phosphotransferase gene (HPT) from a stably transformed rice callus which had been drived from protoplasts electroporated with a palsmid harboring HPT. Nucleotide sequence of the clone, however, was found to contain no HPT sequence. It was 2419 nucleotides long. Overall homology of the sequence was 43% to that of HPT and local homology as high as 65-7o% was found in the fragment. The 3' portion of the fragment showed the highest homology (75-80%) with a part of RNA polymerase beta subunit gene of chroloplasts from rice, maize, and pea. Analysis for open reading frames, however, suggested that this region might be a pseudogene. Thus this genomic clone was supposed to be derived from a region containing the pseudogene of RNA polymerase beta subunit of rice nuclear genome