Identification and Differential Expression of Two Dehydrin cDNAs during Maturation of Jatropha curcas Seeds

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S. A. Omar^1,2, N. I. Elsheery³, H. M. Kalaji^4*, M. K. H. Ebrahim^5,6, S. Pietkiewicz⁴, C.-H. Lee⁷, S. I. Allakhverdiev^8,9*, and Zeng-Fu Xu^1*

¹Key Laboratory of Tropical Plant Resource and Sustainable Use, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun 666303, Yunnan, China; E-mail: zfxu@xtbg.ac.cn; zengfu.xu@gmail.com

²Genetic Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Tanta University, Egypt

³Agricultural Botany Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt

⁴Department of Plant Physiology, Warsaw University of Life Sciences SGGW, Nowoursynowska 159, 02-776 Warsaw, Poland; E-mail: hazem@kalaji.pl

⁵Biology Department, Faculty of Science, Taibah University, Almadinah Almunawwarah, KSA (Saudi Arabia)

⁶Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt

⁷Department of Molecular Biology, Pusan National University, Busan 609-735, Korea

⁸Institute of Plant Physiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Botanicheskaya 35, 127276 Moscow, Russia; E-mail: suleyman.allakhverdiev@gmail.com

⁹Institute of Basic Biological Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, 142290 Pushchino, Moscow Region, Russia

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received January 25, 2013; Revision received February 1, 2013

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Plant dehydrin proteins (DHNs) are known to be important for environmental stress tolerance and are involved in various developmental processes. Two full-length cDNAs JcDHN-1 and JcDHN-2 encoding two dehydrins from Jatropha curcas seeds were identified and characterized. JcDHN-1 is 764 bp long and contains an open reading frame of 528 bp. The deduced JcDHN-1 protein has 175 a.a. residues that form a 19.3-kDa polypeptide with a predicted isoelectric point (pI) of 6.41. JcDHN-2 is 855 bp long and contains an open reading frame of 441 bp. The deduced JcDHN-2 protein has 156 a.a. residues that form a 17.1-kDa polypeptide with a predicted pI of 7.09. JcDHN-1 is classified as type Y₃SK₂ and JcDHN-2 is classified as type Y₂SK₂ according to the YSK shorthand for structural classification of dehydrins. Homology analysis indicates that both JcDHN-1 and JcDHN-2 share identity with DHNs of other plants. Analysis of the conserved domain revealed that JcDHN-2 has glycoside hydrolase GH20 super-family activity. Quantitative real time PCR analysis for JcDHN-1 and JcDHN-2 expression during seed development showed increasing gene expression of both their transcript levels along with the natural dehydration process during seed development. A sharp increase in JcDHN-2 transcript level occurred in response to water content dropping from 42% in mature seeds to 12% in dry seeds. These results indicate that both JcDHNs have the potential to play a role in cell protection during dehydration occurring naturally during jatropha orthodox seed development.

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KEY WORDS: dehydrin, Jatropha curcas, real time PCR, seed development

DOI: 10.1134/S0006297913050076

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