It is intended to contribute to the solution of environmental problems
caused by destroying the ozone layer and serious problems concerning the
food resources in the 21st century by isolating a photoreactivating
enzyme from an ultraviolet light-tolerant rice plant, thus acquiring
information on the photoreactivation mechanism of the plant which still
remains unknown mostly, and constructing an ultraviolet light-tolerant
plant with the use of a cloned gene. Genes encoding a photoreactivating
enzyme originating in rice plant, in particular, a gene encoding a
protein as specified in the following (a) or (b): (a) a protein
comprising the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO:1; and (b) a
protein comprising an amino acid sequence derived from the amino acid
sequence (a) by deletion, substitution or addition of one to several
amino acids and having a photoreactivating enzyme activity.