Identification of Trans-spliced Acid Phosphate in Arabidopsis thaliana

We used differential display technique to identify purple acid phophatases in Arabidopsis thaliana responsive to abiotic stress conditions. A clone called E7 was found to include two different transcripted units. These two units appeared to be part of two distinct loci on different chromosomes, one coding for a DNA binding Zine Finger protein, the other coding for a PAP (PAP5). Later analysis suggested that these two units are attached to each other via trans- spicing , and that a frame shift in required at the joint to restore coding for acid pgosphatase. Here, we report our efforts in identification and cloning E7.