Abstract: Nine plasma membrane aquaporin genes named LcPIP were cloned from litchi and their tissue specificity expressions were studied in order to provide the information for further research on litchi preservation during the postharvest storage. These nine LcPIP genes can be divided into two groups，PIP1 and PIP2. The real-time RT-PCR result showed that LcPIP1-2，LcPIP1-4，LcPIP2-1 and LcPIP2-2 had higher expression level in the flower than other tissues. LcPIP1-1，LcPIP1-2，LcPIP1-3，LcPIP2-4，LcPIP2-5 had higher expression level in stem，pulp，leaf，root and pericarp，respectively. All the expressions of LcPIP1-1，LcPIP2-4 and LcPIP2-5 were higher in pericarp than most of other tissues，which indicated that they may be involved with water transportation of litchi pericarp. LcPIP2-3 was expressed specifically in the pericarp and has a higher expression than any other member.

Key words: Litchi chinensis, aquaporin；gene cloning, expression