An Arabidopsis thaliana cDNA (AtGSHS) encoding a protein with high primary sequence identity to cDNAs previously isolated from Xenopus laevis (42%), Schizosaccharomyces pombe (40%), Rattus norvegicus (40%) and Homo sapiens (37%) encoding glutathione synthetase (EC 6.3.2.3) has been isolated by functional complementation of an Escherichia coli mutant deficient in this enzyme. AtGSHS is encoded by a single gene, GSHB, as determined by Southern blot analysis and the corresponding mRNA is abundant in both roots and leaves of Arabidopsis.
