The sequence of the N. tabacum eEF1Bc gene (GenBank: ACB72462.1) was derived via a BLASTP search based on the Cterminal (translation elongation factor) domain (aa 252-412) of the Saccharomyces cerevisie Tef4 protein. The selected sequence (TC64920) from the Solanaceae Genomics Resource (www.tigr. org) gave 98% identity with N. tabacum EF1Bc -like gene (GB#: EU580435.1).