Abstract:The heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) family members are widely involved in the growth and development of organisms as well as the transmission of stress signals. They are of significant importance in the study of signal transduction, cell cycle regulation, protein degradation and transport. In order to decipher the HSP90 gene family in foxtail millet (Setaria italica（L.）P. Beauv.), and identify their elite haplotypes being important in drought tolerance, the family members (referred SiHSP90s) were identified by taking use of the foxtail millet genome reference. Nine SiHSP90s members were identified on 5 chromosomes, with the intron number of 1 to 19, and the amino acids of deduced protein ranged from 404 to 818. Phylogenetic analysis suggested that SiHSP90s were divided into four groups. SiHSP90s were predicted to be localized in cytoplasm and endoplasmic reticulum. Based on the released foxtail millet transcriptome data, the transcriptional patterns of SiHSP90s in tissues were different. Nine stress and hormone regulatory elements were predicted via cis-acting element analysis, indicating that the transcriptional reprogramming of SiHSP90s under different abiotic stresses might be present. Haplotype analysis of 532 foxtail millet varieties showed little variation in gene region but abundant variations in the promoter region, which enables defining four haplotypes. In conjugation with phenotypic analysis, it is found that the haplotype H004 is likely the most elite haplotype showing drought tolerant, possibly due to the core sequence variations of this haplotype at cis-acting element responding to the Methyl Jasmonate (MeJA) treatments.

Abstract:The DUF761 family members contain a domain of unknown function (DUF) protein in plants, and these functions in rice remain un-described. In this study, 33 family members in rice genome have been identified by bioinformatics pipeline. Phylogenetic analysis suggested three subfamilies, while Motif-1, a conserved motif was present in each member of each subfamily. Fifteen types of cis-acting elements related to stress response, hormone response and development were found in the promoters of these OsDUF761 genes. The promoters of 30 OsDUF761 genes contain the ABRE element (abscisic acid response), and the promoter of a member OsDUF761-21 contains 16 ABRE elements. Tissue expression profile analysis showed that OsDUF761 gene members represented similar or distinct tissue expression profile patterns in rice. The transcriptional expression levels of 12, 13, 24, 24 and 18 OsDUF761 genes in rice were significantly changed after ABA, JA, low temperature, drought and rice blast treatments, respectively. Eight genes showed a common significant up- or down-regulation response trend after ABA treatment and drought treatment. Six genes showed a common response trend after JA treatment and M. oryzae treatment. Collectively, by conducting a comprehensive analysis of the rice DUF761 gene family members, this study provided insights for future deciphering their biological functions in rice.

Abstract:LBD gene family is a kind of plant-specific transcription factors and plays very important role in plant development. In this study, 59 LBD genes distributed on 9 chromosomes of radish genome were identified. The radish LBD genes have simple structures with the intron numbers being less than 3. These LBD genes could be classified into 2 classes (Class I and Class II) according to the phylogeny relationship, including 50 and 9 members, respectively. The number of radish LBDs distributed on different chromosomes has significantly difference, 18 members distributed on chromosome 1 while only one member distributed on chromosome 7 and 8, respectively. The expression patterns of radish LBD genes in different tissues and development stages showed spatial and temporal differences, uncovered their potential diverse function in radish development. These results will be helpful for the functional analysis of the radish LBD genes family.

Abstract:Tonoplast intrinsic proteins (TIPs), localizing on the tonoplast or the vacuole formed body, belong to one subclass of aquaporins and are known to play important roles in plant abiotic stress responses. In the present study, 23 GmTIP genes were identified on the genomic level, using soybean genome database. Chromosomal distribution analyses suggested GmTIP genes were distributed on 17 chromosomes. Protein multiple sequence alignment analyses showed that all GmTIP proteins contained six representative trans-membrane domains (TM1 to TM6) and two conserved NPA (Asp-Pro-Ala box) domains. Protein feature analyses indicated that the number of amino acids of GmTIPs ranged from 237 to 255, the molecular masses ranged from 27.0 to 27.2 KDa and the isoelectronic points ranged from 5.08 to 10.01. Evolutionary relationship analyses showed that GmTIPs were divided into five clades (TIP1 to TIP5), which was consistent with Arabidopsis AtTIPs. And each clade was composed of the homologous TIPs from soybean and Arabidopsis, which may be functionally conserved. Furthermore, the responsiveness of 5 GmTIP candidate genes in response to abiotic stresses (drought and salt) and hormone signals (abscisic acid (ABA) and amino cyclopropane carboxylic acid (ACC)) were investigated using qRT-PCR. The results revealed that these environmental stresses and exogenous hormones could induce the up-regulation or down-regulation of these tested GmTIP genes in leaves or roots. Among them, GmTIP2;6 was most significantly up-regulated in roots after drought or salt treatment. However, for GmTIP2;1, GmTIP2;2 and GmTIP4;1, drought treatment provoked their dramatic down-regulation expression in roots and their dramatic up-regulation expression in leaves . For ACC hormone treatment, GmTIP2;2 was strong up-regulation in roots. These findings will facilitate further study of the functional roles and molecular mechanisms of GmTIP genes during abiotic stress responses and promote the application of GmTIP genes in molecular breeding of vegetable soybean.

Abstract:Based on the nucleotide sequence of phytoene desaturase gene NtPDS of Nicotiana benthamiana published on NCBI, specific primers were designed and synthesized. With the total RNA from leaves of Nicotiana tabacum cv. Hongda used as the template, the NtPDS gene was obtained by PCR. Sequence analysis showed that the gene contained a full coding region of 1,749 bp encoding 582 amino acid residues with a the molecular mass of 65.04 kDa and the isoelectric point of 7.53. The fragments of the NtPDS gene were cloned into the prokaryotic expression vector pET-32a and the fusion expression vector pET-32a-NtPDS was constructed, which was then transformed into Escherichia coli BL21(DE3). The fusion protein NtPDS in the form of soluble fraction was effectively expressed under 1 mmol/L IPTG concentrations at 37°C for 4 hours. And then this result was proved by Western blotting. The semi-quantitative PCR results revealed that the transcript of NtPDS gene was detectable in leaves, flowers and stems, but no such transcript detected in the roots. It laid a foundation for the further study on the enzyme activity of NtPDS and its functions.

Abstract:TaAIP was obtained as the interaction protein of wheat stress-related TaMAPK2, which was used as bait protein to screen the wheat cDNA library by yeast-two-hybrid system. TaAIP, containing a wali domain, was similar to some aluminum-induced proteins. Real-time PCR showed that the expression of TaAIP was up-regulated by the imposition of aluminum, high-salt and drought stress. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis indicated TaAIP was a stem-specific gene, not expressed in root, leaves and flower. The subcellular localization assay indicated that TaAIP located on plasma membrane. These results provided the foundation for further analysis of TaAIP resistance mechanisms.

Abstract:A number of basic leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factors are known to function in stress signaling in plants but few have thus far been functionally characterized in maize. A bZIP transcription factor gene, ZmbZIP71, was isolated from maize inbred line CN165. Sequence analysis showed that ZmbZIP71 encoded a polypeptide of 156 amino acids with predicted molecular mass of 17.59 kDa and pI of 9.24. The genomic DNA of ZmbZIP71 was composed of two exons. The results of real-time PCR analysis indicated that ZmbZIP71 was up-regulated by drought, cold (4℃) and ABA, and down-regulated by NaCl treatment in seedlings, suggesting that ZmbZIP71 might function as an early stress-responsive gene. The tissue-specific expression analysis suggested that ZmbZIP71 was constitutively expressed in maize different tissues and expressed much higher in tassels and female ear than in other organs.