CURVATURE OF THE LIGHT-RESPONSIVE ELEMENT OF THE PLANT GENE RBCS-3A ENCODING THE SMALL SUBUNIT OF RIBULOSE-1,5-BISPHOSPHATE CARBOXYLASE

The possible curvature in the light-responsive element (LRE) of the plant gene which codes for the small subunit of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase has been derived from the nucleotide sequence of the LRE on the basis of a theoretical method previously developed in our research group. The oligonucleotides corresponding to regions of higher curvature in the profile, taking also into account biochemical data, have been synthesized and their electrophoretic mobilities have been measured after ligation. Retardation effects have been found, increasing with length of the multimers, in good agreement with theoretical prediction. These results suggest that the curvature of LRE could be the structural determinant in the control of rbcS-3A gene photoactivation.