The full-length cDNA of a cold-induced CBF gene was cloned from tea (Camellia sinensis),and designated as CsCBF1( GenBank accession No.EU563238) by RACE method.The cDNA was 1 211 bp in length,and contained an open reading frame encoding 259 amino acids.Amino acid sequence alignment showed that CsCBF1 contained all typical conserved motifs of CBF family.CsCBF1 protein was very similar in amino acid sequence to CBFs from other plant species,and showing 56%,63% and 56% amino acid sequence identity to CBFs from Arabidopsis thaliana,Capsicum annuum,and Hevea brasiliensis,respectively.Subcellular location assay indicated that CsCBF1-GFP fusion protein was located in nucleus.When ten deletion mutants of CsCBF1 were fused in-frame to the yeast GAL4 DNA-binding domain,its carboxyl-terminal acidic region (from 137^th amino acid to 259^th amino acid) could activate the transcription in yeast.Quantitative real-time RT-PCR analysis revealed that CsCBF1 was induced quickly by low temperature.