Abstract:A eDNA done containing a putative coding region for lipid transfer protein (LTP), designated as pFDRSC144, was isolated from a rice ( Oryza sativa L. ssp. indica )culfivar "Guanglu‘ ai 4", etiolated shoot cDNA library, 840 bp nucleotides of cDNA was sequenced and it contained an open reading frame of 354 nucleofides encoding 118 amino acids. The deduced peptide included a signal peptide of 26 aa, and showed high homology with LTPs from rice and other plants. The hydropathy profile revealed that the putative peptide chain contained several hydrophobic regions. The secondary structure analysis by the method of Gamier showed that this peptide chain of mature protein could mainly form β-pleated sheet structure. It has been therefore tentatively pmposed that LTP peptide might form an open tube-like structure which would be useful for lipid transfer. In addition, the result of Southern blot analysis revealed the existence of‘an LTP gene family in the rice genome.