Nucleotide sequence of four ribosomal protein L27 cDNAs from growing axillary buds of pea

The small and large subunits of the eukaryotic ribosome contain a total of three to four rRNA molecules and 70 to 80 ribosomal proteins, which are required in stoichiometric amounts. Expression of ribosomal protein genes in plants has been correlated with active growth and cell division in a variety of tissues and organs. Ribosomal protein genes in plants and other organisms generally are expressed coordinately. Some ribosomal proteins are encoded by single-copy genes, whereas others are encoded by small gene families. We show here that the pea (Pisum sativum) rpL27 family contains at least five expressed members, the largest ribosomal protein gene family from any plant for which sequence data are available.