1 Key Laboratory for Genetics and Breeding of Forest Trees and Ornamental Plants of Ministry of Education, National Engineering Laboratory for Forest Tree Breeding, Beijing Forestry University, 100083, P.R.China; 2 College of Forestry, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, P.R.China.

In this paper, we cloned the full cDNA sequence of AcEXT gene, which was copiously expressed in the cambium of Anthocephalus chinensis through reverse transcription, conserved PCR, 3′RACE and chromosome walking. DNA sequence analysis showed that the 1 396 bp full cDNA sequence included a 960 bp complete open reading frame, which encoded a 320 amino acids protein. The deduced amino acid sequence of AcXET was homologous to the other known XET proteins and contained the conserved EIDFE catalytic site, which was specific to all of the XETs. Results of this paper paved the way for AcXET gene molecular mechanism research during wood formation and cell wall engineering of wood plants in the future.