Abstract：To investigate the role of lipid transfer proteins in chilling resistance of blossom of Chimonanthus Praecox , we cloned three members of the LTPs family, namely CpLTPI.1, CpLTPI.2 and CpLTPI.3, by randomly cloning and sequencing, based on the cDNA library constructed from Chimonanthus Praecox flower and its EST analysis. The three genes have full-lengths of 611 bp, 1016 bp and 656bp, respectively, with similar opening reading frame(ORF) of 360 bp, 360 bp and 351bp, and have different length of 5′and 3′ untranslated region with different regulation motifs. The three genes, which belong to the nsLTPI family, have the typical structure of the plant nonspecific lipid transfer protein including 4 pairs of disulfide, 4 α-helices and 1 tunnel-like hydrophobic cavity which can contain lipid molecules. Real-time quantitative PCR analysis revealed that the three genes were differently regulated by drought, salinity, cold and ABA (abscisic acid), which suggested that the three genes would play different roles in water balance, chilling tolerance, metabolism and other physiological processes in Chimonanthus Praecox.
