Abstract
We aligned 14 5′-leading sequences of small subunit ribulose- 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase (rbcS) genes. A strong consensus sequence (“CCTTATCAT”) was located directly upstream of the TATAbox. The occurance of this motif in other light dependent phytochrome regulated plant genes led to the calculation of two consensus matrices. With these two matrices we are able to distinguish almost all known light induced plant genes which are phytochrome regulated from non-light induced plant genes indicating, that all these genes share a common light-responsive element (LRE). The results obtained by computer analysis are discussed with regard to experimental data.