Isolation and characterization of gmsti, a stress-inducible gene from soybean (Glycine max) coding for a protein belonging to the TPR (tetratricopeptide repeats) family

In close vicinity of two fus nuclear genes (chloroplast-specific translation elongation factor cEF-G) of soybean (Glycine max) we localized a split nuclear gene coding for a protein with tetratricopeptide repeats (TPR). A full-length cDNA was sequenced (1871 nucleotides). It encodes a protein (569 amino acids) with high sequence identity to the yeast STI1 stress-inducible and the human transformation-sensitive IEF SSP 3521 protein which both carry TPR elements. The soybean gene is heat-inducible. This is the first evidence for the existence of plant genes coding for proteins which belong to the TPR family. We call the gene gmsti and the protein GMSTI in analogy to the yeast counterpart.