Genes encoding the small subunit of RUBISCO belong to two highly conserved subfamilies in Nicotianeae.

The sequences of seven complementary DNAs or genes encoding the small subunit (SSU) of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase oxygenase (RUBISCO) in several Nicotianeae were examined. Two new SSU genes isolated from Nicotiana sylvestris were included. Both sequence comparisons and Southern analyses with specific probes reveal that SSU genes fall into two homogeneous subfamilies that are highly conserved in Nicotianeae and are also present in other Solanaceae. Additional criteria such as number of introns and level of expression fitted to this classification. Homogeneity must have been maintained by gene conversion and/or an unusually high fidelity of DNA replication, whereas traces of slippage-stranded DNA mispairing and/or transposition probably explain local changes. Taken as a whole, these results show that the divergence between the two subfamilies predated the divergence between genera inside the Solanaceae, but that Nicotianeae retained the most simple SSU gene family structure.