We isolated and characterized the rice homologue of the DNA repair gene Snm1 (OsSnm1). The length of the cDNA was 1862 bp; the open reading frame encoded a predicted product of 485 amino acid residues with a molecular mass of 53.2 kDa. The OsSnm1 protein contained the conserved P-lactamase domain in its internal region. OsSnm1 was expressed in all rice organs. The expression was induced by MMS, H2O2, and mitomycin C, but not by UV. Transient expression of an OsSnm1/GFP fusion protein in onion epidermal cells revealed the localization of OsSnm1 to the nucleus. These results suggest that OsSnm1 is involved not only in the repair of DNA interstrand crosslinks, but also in various other DNA repair pathways. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.