Abstract:

In this study，a nucleotide sequence in length of 1 999 bp was cloned from tea plant（Camellia sinensis），termed as CsSULTR3.1（GenBank accession No. KY963793）. Bioinformatics analysis showed that the sequence contained 1 980 bp Open Reading Frame（ORF） and encoded 659 amino acid residues. BlastX and phylogenetic analysis indicated that CsSULTR3.1 shared the highest identity（86%）with SULTR3.1 in Vitis vinifera. In addition，CsSULTR3.1 was speculated as a non-secretory protein with 10 transmembrane domains，72.39 kD molecular weight and 7.61 theoretical isoelectric point. Subcellular localization using GFP assays validated that CsSULTR3.1 was located in cytoplasm. Results of real-time PCR analysis showed that CsSULTR3.1 could be detected in all tested tissues of tea plant and was highly expressed in stems. Furthermore，CsSULTR3.1 could be induced by the treatments of Na₂SO₄ and Na₂SeO₄，respectively. Under 60 mg · L^-1 sulfate condition，the expression of CsSULTR3.1 gradually raised after 12 h，and reached maximum at 48 h. However，a significant expression decrease was detected within 12 h under 240 mg · L^-1 sulfate treatment，and an expression stimulation was observed after 24 h treatment. In comparison，the expression of CsSULTR3.1 showed same change tendency either under high or low selenate treatment condition，briefly decreased firstly，then increased with a peak at 48 h and followed by another decrease.

Key words: tea plant, Camellia sinensis, sulfate transporter, CsSULTR3.1, sulfate, selenate, expression analysis