Nucleotide sequence of a genomic clone encoding a cowpea
(Vigna unguiculata L.) trypsin inhibitor

Paulraj Kirubakaran Lawrence^*
Department of Biological Sciences
Texas Tech University
Box No 43131
Lubbock, TX 79409-3131 USA
Tel: 806-742-2740
Fax: 806-742-2963
E-mail: p.k.lawrence@ttu.edu

Jayaveeramuthu Nirmala
Department of Biological Sciences
Texas Tech Univerity
Lubbock, TX 79409-3131 USA
Tel: 806-742-8084
Fax: 806-742-2963
E-mail: nilawren@ttacs.ttu.edu

Kripa Ram Koundal
National Research Center on Plant Biotechnology
Indian Agricultural Research Institute
PUSA, New Delhi, India-110012
Tel: 91-011-5711554
Fax: 91-011-5766420
E-mail: krk_pbio@iari.ernet.in

*Corresponding author

Financial support: Senior Research Fellowship provided to PKL, by Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi, India-110012.

Keywords: cowpea genomic library, nucleotide sequencing, sequence analysis.

A protease inhibitor gene has been isolated from native cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.) cv. 130 from l-ZAP II genomic library. The nucleotide sequence of this genomic clone shared 86% homology with a cowpea trypsin inhibitor f IV mRNA, and 81% with Bowman-Birk protease inhibitor genes of soybean. The isolated gene had TATA and CAT signals in the 5' upstream region. The longest open reading frame had 504 bases, encoding 167 amino acids from the predicted coding region. The active serine centers of this protein was found between 105-158 amino acid residues, with a 69 amino acids long signal peptide in its N terminal.