Isolation and sequence analysis of a nuclear tRNA(met-i) gene from soybean.

A gene encoding the initiator methionine transfer RNA (tRNA(met-i)) has been isolated from a soybean genomic library. The nucleotide sequence of the gene is colinear with the previously determined sequence of bean and wheat germ tRNA(met-i) (3, 8) except for a transversion at site 51/63 in stem IV. Microinjection of the soybean gene into Xenopus oocytes caused the transcription of an RNA product equal in size to mature Xenopus tRNA(met-i). Hybridization of a restriction fragment containing the tRNA(met-i) gene to digests of soybean DNA reveals that the gene occurs in only one to a few copies per haploid genome.