RY repeats are conserved in the 5'-flanking regions of legume seed- protein genes

Sequences called RY repeats have been Implicated in the regulation of teed lect in genes ( 1 , 2 ) . Here ue report that these sequences are also found in the 5 flanking sequences of other legune seed-protein genes. Of 21 legume seed genes, 20 contain at least 7 bp of homology to the 8bp sequence CATGCATG. The table l is ts these genes grouped by family and indicates the beginning position of the RY sequence re lat ive to the transcription i n i t i a t i o n s i t e . Multiple copies of the RY element are present in several legume seed genes. RY repeats also occur in many cereal seed-protein genes at or near the -300 element ( 3 ) . To evaluate the significance of these findings, ue analyzed the 5 flanking sequences of 31 non-seed genes. Allowing one mismatch, none of these genes utit found to contain an RY sequence within 300 nucleotides 5 from the cap s i t e . Legume seedprotein genes show similar patterns of developmental and tissue specific regulation ( 4 ) . The conservation of RY elements in the 5 flanking regions of legume seed genes supports the suggestion that the sequence plays a role in the regulation of transcription of these genes.