ERD6, a cDNA clone for an early dehydration-induced gene of Arabidopsis, encodes a putative sugar transporter

Previously, we constructed a cDNA library from Arabidopsis plants that were exposed to dehydration stress for 1 h and obtained the ERD6 clone. Here we report that the ERD6 cDNA consists of 1741 bp and encodes a polypeptide of 496 amino acids having a predicted molecular weight of 54,354. The putative polypeptide of ERD6 is related to those of sugar transporters of bacteria, yeasts, plants and mammals. Hydropathy analysis revealed that ERD6 protein has 12 putative transmembrane domains and a central hydrophilic region. Sequences that are conserved at the ends of the 6th and 12th membrane-spanning domains of sugar transporters are also present in ERD6. These data suggest that ERD6 encodes a sugar transporter. Genomic Southern blots indicate that the ERD6 gene is a member of a multigene family in the Arabidopsis genome. The expression of the ERD6 gene was induced not only by dehydration but also by cold treatment.