Isolation and characterization of a putative anthocyanidin reductase gene from Ginkgo biloba

We isolated a putative anthocyanidin reductase gene from Ginkgo biloba (designated as GbANR) by rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE). The full-length cDNA of GbANR is 1451 bp long with poly(A) tail and contains a 1026 bp open reading frame (ORF) encoding 342 amino acids. The GbANR gene is composed of five exons and four introns. Sequence alignment shows that the deduced GbANR has a relatively high identity to other plant anthocyanidin reductases at the amino acid level. DNA gel blot analysis indicates that GbANR belongs to a small gene family. Transcription analysis indicates that GbANR is preferentially expressed in leaves.