Abstract：A polygalacturonase inhibiting protein gene named FaPGIP was cloned from strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) leaves through PCR.The FaPGIP gene from genomic DNA showed a single 168bp intron and the cDNA contained an open reading frame of 999bp, which encoded a polypeptide of 332 amino acid residues with a molecular mass of 37.1 kD and a pI of 7.67, and a hydrophobic region of 24 amino acid residues in the N-terminal which was considered to be a signal peptide. The deduced amino acid sequence contained 5 potential N-glycosylation sites. The sequence homology comparison showed that the FaPGIP exhibits a high homology of the nucleotide sequences with other PGIP genes from the GenBank. The three-dimensional model looked like a horseshoe-shaped structure, and contained 12 α-helices and 21 β-sheets, and the center LRR structural domain was composed of 10 tandem LRRs motifs. The expression of FaPGIP was found in root, stem, leaf, flower and fruit of strawberry. The expression levels in different tissues from fruit, leaf, flower, root and stem ranking high to low, with the relative content of 0.2460, 0.1664, 1.3712, 0.8721and 3.4154, respectively.
