Abstract: Gene expression microarray of petunia was applied to select cold responsive gene，from which a B-box-type zinc-finger protein gene PhBBX8 was discovered. The full length of the coding region of PhBBX8 amplified by RT-PCR was 1 242 bp，and the product of PhBBX8 gene was predicted to consist of 413 amino acid residuals containing two B-box domains at the N-terminal and one CCT domain at the C-terminal. The phylogenetic tree analyses showed that PhBBX8 was clustered in the same branch with AtBBX8 in Arabidopsis. By semi-quantitative RT-PCR，PhBBX8 was found to express differentially in all the tissues detected，including root，stem，leaf and flower. Stress induced expression analysis by real-time quantitative PCR showed that the expression of PhBBX8 could be induced not only by cold，but also by drought，ABA，MeJA，salt and hypertonic stresses in different degrees，suggesting PhBBX8 gene was associated with the responses of cold and other abiotic stresses.

Key words: Petunia hybrida, B-box, zinc-finger protein, abiotic stress, expression analysis