Abstract:Gammatocopherol methyltransferase (γTMT) is one of the key enzymes in the vitamin E synthesis pathway. In this study, we cloned three homologous copies of the γtocopherol methyltransferase gene (γTMT) from the wheat cultivarChinese Spring using RTPCR (reverse transcription PCR). The similarity of three sequence CDs (coding sequence) was 99.12%. TaγTMT6A and TaγTMT6B coding sequences both contain 1 101 bp and encode 366 amino acids, while TaγTMT6D encodes only 365 amino acids due to nonsense mutations. The results of bioinformatics analysis showed that the molecular weights of the three proteins were 39.58, 39.53 and 39.50 kDa, respectively, and the theoretical isoelectric points were 6.67, 6.41 and 7.08. They all belonged to hydrophilic unstable nonsecretory proteins. Phylogenetic tree analysis indicated that TaγTMT protein shared high similarity to γTMT protein from Panicum miliaceum and closest genetic relationship. Realtime quantitative PCR analysis showed that the TaγTMT gene was expressed in roots, stems, leaves, glumes and seeds, and highly expressed in leaves. Meanwhile, expression of the TaγTMT gene was upregulated induced by ABA, NaCl, PEG treatments. This result will provide the foundation for further study of the function of the TaγTMT gene in wheat.