柠条锦鸡儿(Caragana korshinskii Kom.)具有较高的饲用价值和生态价值，抗旱、抗盐碱、耐贫瘠、适应极端温度，是研究植物抗逆机制的理想材料。我们从以前构建好的柠条干旱SSH文库和转录组测序结果中共发现了54条注释为LEA基因的序列。前期的研究显示这些LEA基因受到干旱和ABA等不同条件的诱导表达，表明它们参与了柠条对干旱胁迫的响应。本研究中，我们将克隆柠条LEA基因家族成员，并对其分子结构、进化特征和表达模式进行研究。通过与拟南芥及其它豆科植物LEA基因成员的比较，分析柠条LEA基因家族的特点。在此基础上，筛选6-8个柠条LEA基因进行功能研究，重点揭示2-3个LEA基因在响应干旱等逆境胁迫中的作用，探索其增强植物耐旱的机制，为植物抗旱基因工程提供新的基因资源。

Caragana korshinskii Kom. is an important cultivated shrub with high ecological and forage value. As a very strong stress resistant species, it was reported to tolerate drought, cold, saline and other abiotic stresses. In order to study its resistance mechanisms to drought and to screen drought responsive genes, a suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) library and a transcriptome of C. korshinskii Kom. under drought stress were constructed in previous work, and the ESTs of 54 LEA protein encoding genes were selected. Real-time quantitative PCR analysis showed that drought, ABA and other treatments enhanced the expression of these genes at the transcriptional level, indicating that they may be involved in drought and other stress resistance mechanisms of C. korshinskii Kom. In this study, the 54 LEA genes will be cloned, and their molecular characteristics, phylogenetic and expression pattern will be analyzed, 6-8 target genes were selected for further study. Transgenic Arabidopsis and E.coli (or yeast) will be obtained to reveal their function in resistance to abiotic stresses, especially in improving drought resistance of plants.