Abstract
Phospholipase A2 (PLA2) acts on the ester bond at the 2nd position of glycerophospholipids to produce free fatty acids and lysophopholipids. In recent years, as the reports about the gene expression of PLA2 in plant have been increasing, the attention has been paid to the physiological role of plant PLA2. However, there is little information on the physiological role of plant PLA2 compared to that of animal PLA2. In the rice genome, the four genes with homology to those of animal secretory PLA2 ( sPLA2 ) were found. The two of four genes were previously reported expressed in rice. We examined the gene expression levels of the four genes in rice. We found that the four genes were expressed in rice seedlings germinated after one week, and suggested that those genes were functional genes. We are now investigating the gene expression of the four sPLA2 under various stress condition.
