Bioinformatics
Seyyed Hamidreza Hashemi-petroudi; Samira Mohammadi; Esmaeil Bakhshandeh; Markus Kuhlmann
Abstract
From prokaryotes to higher eukaryotes, protein phosphatase 2Cs (PP2Cs) play a critical role in the stress response. For the purpose of identifying the AlPP2C gene and examining its expression, Aeluropus littoralis, a salt-secreting halophytic grass belonging to the Poaceae family, was genome-wildly analyzed. ...
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From prokaryotes to higher eukaryotes, protein phosphatase 2Cs (PP2Cs) play a critical role in the stress response. For the purpose of identifying the AlPP2C gene and examining its expression, Aeluropus littoralis, a salt-secreting halophytic grass belonging to the Poaceae family, was genome-wildly analyzed. Based on the unique structure of the PP2C domain, 34 AlPP2C genes were discovered and classified into ten evolutionary branches based on homology with Arabidopsis thaliana. According to exon-intron structural analyses, they possessed a wide range of exon counts. AlPP2Cs shared similar motif organization in the same evolutionary branches based on motif distribution. The motifs ABRE, MBS, DRE, STRE, and LTR, which are related with stress, were discovered in the promoter region of the AlPP2C. AlPP2Cs displayed varied expression patterns in leaf and root tissues in response to salt stress and recovery conditions, according to transcriptome analyses. The AlPP2C4 gene is only expressed in the root tissues. These results expand our understanding of the PP2C gene family and provide valuable information for future research on PP2Cs molecular function and biological processes studies.
Bioinformatics
Mozhdeh Arab; Seyed Kamal Kazemitabar; Seyyed Hamidreza Hashemi-petroudi
Abstract
Calcineurin B-like proteins (CBLs) are a subfamily of calcium sensors that play a role in various plant cell processes and molecular functions. In sesame (Sesamum indicum), in silico analysis of the CBL gene family was performed to identify CBL proteins involved in calcium signaling. Using their orthologic ...
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Calcineurin B-like proteins (CBLs) are a subfamily of calcium sensors that play a role in various plant cell processes and molecular functions. In sesame (Sesamum indicum), in silico analysis of the CBL gene family was performed to identify CBL proteins involved in calcium signaling. Using their orthologic relationships with Arabidopsis homolog genes, the nine SiCBL genes were identified and subdivided into six groups: SiCBL1, SiCBL2, SiCBL3, SiCBL4, SiCBL8, SiCBL10. The molecular weight of SiCBL proteins ranged from 24.4 to 37.9 kDa, the Isoelectric acid pH range, the instability index ranged from 33.99 to 47.46 percent, the aliphatic index ranged from 80.29 to 10.89, and the GRAVY ranged from -0.420 to 0.061. Prediction of post-translational modifications revealed that palmitoylation motif was observed in all siCBL, however majority of them did not have myristoylaton motif. In term of gene structure, 11% of SiCBL genes had nine exons, 11% had eight exons and 77% had seven exons. The RNA-seq pattern of the SiCBL subfamily under PEG treatment revealed that, whereas members of this gene family had generally similar expression patterns in both susceptible and tolerant cultivars, due to functional Convergence, each member of this gene family had a distinct expression pattern. Future research on the expression of SiCBL and SiCIPK gene family genes under various abiotic conditions could aid in understanding the mechanism of expression control of SOS-related genes.
Bioinformatics
Samira Mohammadi; Ghorbanali Nematzadeh; Hamid Najafi Zarini; Seyyed Hamidreza Hashemi-petroudi
Abstract
MicroRNAs are a large class of small and non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression by binding target mRNA, which leads to cleavage or translational inhibition. Plant miR164 family is highly conserved and is involved in the responses of plants to biotic stresses through the regulation of their target ...
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MicroRNAs are a large class of small and non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression by binding target mRNA, which leads to cleavage or translational inhibition. Plant miR164 family is highly conserved and is involved in the responses of plants to biotic stresses through the regulation of their target NAC genes. In the present study, 68 putative NAC domain-encoding genes (NACs) were identified in Aeluropus littoralis, a halophyte plant of family Poaceae. Among the AlNAC genes identified, 4 were predicted putative targets for regulation by miR164. The high conservation of miR164 recognition sites in AlNAC genes indicates the essential role of target sites in the normal function of these genes as transcription factors. Expression profile of AlNAC1L.1 candidate gene in response to salt and drought stresses and ABA phytohormone in leaf, stem and root tissues was analyzed by RT-qPCR. The results showed that AlNAC1L.1 gene down-regulated in all tissues at 6 hours after applying stresses. Among the treatments, 600 mM NaCl treatment reduced AlNAC1L.1 expression in leaf, stem and root tissues to about -217, -26 and -9 folds, respectively. Therefore, the AlNAC1L.1 which is ortholog of known Oryza miR164-targeted NAC gene OMTN6, may play negative regulatory role in response to salt, drought and ABA treatments. These results indicated that function of some NAC proteins might be conserved among species. Collectively, these findings provided a useful resource for further analysis of the interactions between NAC genes and their intricate regulation by miR164 in response to abiotic stresses.
Bioinformatics
Mozhdeh Arab; Hamid Najafi Zarrini; Ghorbanali Nematzadeh; Seyyed Hamidreza Hashemi-petroudi
Abstract
The calcineurin B-like protein (CBL) is an essential calcium sensor that plays a crucial role in plant growth, development and stress responses. The identification of a cis-acting element in the promoter region of the CBL gene family in three plants, including Oryza sativa (OsCBL), Arabidopsis thaliana ...
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The calcineurin B-like protein (CBL) is an essential calcium sensor that plays a crucial role in plant growth, development and stress responses. The identification of a cis-acting element in the promoter region of the CBL gene family in three plants, including Oryza sativa (OsCBL), Arabidopsis thaliana (AtCBL), and Arabidopsis littoralis (AtCBL), was investigated because of their importance and involvement in signal transduction under abiotic and biological stresses. Sub-cellular localization of 10 AtCBL, 10 OsCBL and six AlCBL genes showed that AtCBL4, AtCBL10, AlCBL4.2, AlCBL4.3 and AlCBL10 proteins were located in the plasma membrane. 26 CBLs were identified and grouped into two major groups based on their orthologous relatedness in the phylogenetic tree. According to a comparative analysis of the gene structure of the CBLs gene family, about 66 percent of AlCBL genes, 60 percent of AtCBL genes, and 80 percent of OsCBL genes had eight exons and seven introns. Cis-regulatory elements were identified and grouped into eight distinct classes. The ABRE, ARE, GC motif, MBS, DRE, STRE, and LTR motifs were essential stress-related elements. Different regulatory mechanisms in the promoter region of AtCBLs are responsible for their distinct expression patterns, which are regulated by numerous tissue-specific and stress-specific cis-elements. The functional analysis of AlCBL4.2 (which contains six as-1 motifs) will provide useful information about this gene's regulatory processes due to its tissue-specific and enhancer feature of as-1 motif.
Bioinformatics
Mozhdeh Arab; Hamid Najafi zarrini; Ghorbanali Nematzadeh; Seyyed Hamidreza Hashemi-petroudi
Abstract
Calcium-dependent protein kinase (CPK), as a member of Ser/Thr kinases superfamily, plays a vital role in responding and adapting to biotic and abiotic stresses. The halophyte plant, Aeluropus littoralis, has been considered an attractive model to improve genetic resources of crops and plant stress genomic ...
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Calcium-dependent protein kinase (CPK), as a member of Ser/Thr kinases superfamily, plays a vital role in responding and adapting to biotic and abiotic stresses. The halophyte plant, Aeluropus littoralis, has been considered an attractive model to improve genetic resources of crops and plant stress genomic research. In order to identify the A. littoralis CPK gene family, the whole genome sequences were used to analyze the phylogenetic relationships, exon/intron structure, protein motif/domain organization and the prediction of protein-protein interaction networks. Fourteen AlCPK genes were identified in A. littoralis that were homologous to nine Arabidopsis thaliana CPK genes. The protein domain analysis of AlCPK showed that all studied genes belong to the CPK family due to having several EF-hand (except for AlCPK29.2, which does not have an EF-hand domain) and Kinase domains. AlCPK29.2 protein had the lowest molecular weight and aliphatic index, the highest instability index and gravy among the studied proteins. Gene structure analysis showed that most of AlCPKs (69.8%) have more than seven exons. Besides, AlCPK8 protein was predicted with two N-myristoylation and two palmitoylation motifs, while CPK34.1 protein lacked N-myristoylation, and palmitoylation motif and AlCPK5.1 protein had three palmitoylation motifs. Transcriptome analysis of 34 members of the AtCPK gene family in five abiotic stresses showed that AtCPK genes had diverse expression at different treatments, which could be evidence for AtCPK tissue/ stress-specific expression. The ABF4 gene was identified as one of the components of ABA signaling in AlCPK protein-protein interactions. The findings of this research can be used to classify the roles and pathways of the stress response by studying AlCIPK gene expression under different abiotic stresses.
Bioinformatics
Mozhdeh Arab; Hamid Najafi Zarrini; Ghorbanali Nematzadeh; Seyyed Hamidreza Hashemi-petroudi
Abstract
Calcineurin B-like proteins (CBLs), which act as a secondary messenger molecule in the subfamily of the calcium sensor gene family, play a key role in regulating physiological processes, plant growth and development. In order to identification and comparison of proteins involving in calcium signaling ...
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Calcineurin B-like proteins (CBLs), which act as a secondary messenger molecule in the subfamily of the calcium sensor gene family, play a key role in regulating physiological processes, plant growth and development. In order to identification and comparison of proteins involving in calcium signaling in two model of halophyte and glycophyte plants, in silico analysis of the CBL gene family were done in Aeluropus littoralis and Arabidopsis thaliana. Based on sequence homology and orthological relationships with Arabidopsis genes, 6 genes identified in Aeluropus were classified into three protein groups: AlCBL4, AlCBL2 and AlCBL10. Multiple sequence allignment of the CBL gene family in Aeluropus littoralis confirmed the presence of four EF-hand domains in all genes, which provide a structure for calcium ion binding. The high similarity of the physicochemical properties of most Aeluropus proteins to Arabidopsis as well as the strong orthological relationship with each other may indicate the preservation of the function of these genes in the evolutionary process. Analysis of AtCBLs expression patterns in different organs/ abiotic stresses showed that these genes have unique expression profiles due to functional and structural convergent. Different expression profiles of AlCBLs in Aeluropus transcriptome would be an evidence for the functional divergent of these genes. The results obtained from this study can provide valuable information about the properties of this gene family and their functional roles in tolerating to abiotic stresses for future studies.
Biotic and Abiotic stress
Maryam Chalekaei; Ali Dehestani; Ali reza Abbasi; Seyyed Hamidreza Hashemi-petroudi
Abstract
In this study, the type and frequency of regulatory elements in the promoter regions of DVL gene family in Aeluropus littoralis were studied. Relative expression of AlDVL8 gene as a member of this family was also measured under the salinity stress, salicylic acid, gibberellic acid and cytokinin. The ...
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In this study, the type and frequency of regulatory elements in the promoter regions of DVL gene family in Aeluropus littoralis were studied. Relative expression of AlDVL8 gene as a member of this family was also measured under the salinity stress, salicylic acid, gibberellic acid and cytokinin. The results of the promoter study indicated that, this gene family has different regulatory elements for responding to stresses and hormones. Some of these regulatory elements are present in the promoter region of all genes, possibly indicating the general role of DVLs. Some others are present only in the promoter region of some genes that may be related to their specific activity. Treatments other than cytokinin increased gene expression in the shoot at 3, 12, and 24 hours and decreased expression at 6 hours. Cytokinin treatment at all times increased gene expression. In the root, almost the reverse trend of gene expression was observed, so that at 6 hours, increased gene expression was observed in all treatments, and at 12 and 24 hours, decreased expression was observed in all treatments. The results of this study showed that the expression of AlDVL8 gene in shoot and root organs was induced by experimental treatments and its expression was inverse in these two different tissues. Due to the changes in hormones during stress, expression induction of this gene family, and the presence of stress-responsive elements in the promoter regions of these genes, this gene family can be suggested as a candidate for stress tolerance.
Biotic and Abiotic stress
Behnaz Dolatabadi; Gholam Ali Ranjbar; Hamid Najafi-Zarrini; Seyyed Hamidreza Hashemi-Petroudi
Abstract
Dehydrins (DNHs) belong to group II of LEA (Late Embryogenesis Abundant) protein family which are expressed in late embryogenesis and accumulate in vegetative tissues in response to multiple abiotic stresses such as salt, drought and cold stress These proteins could be classified to five subgroups (YnSKn, ...
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Dehydrins (DNHs) belong to group II of LEA (Late Embryogenesis Abundant) protein family which are expressed in late embryogenesis and accumulate in vegetative tissues in response to multiple abiotic stresses such as salt, drought and cold stress These proteins could be classified to five subgroups (YnSKn, Kn, SKn, KnS, and YnKn) based on the sequence and number of K, S, and Y segments. In this study, 5 genes encoding dehydrin protein (DHN) were identified in Aeluropus littoralis, genome as a halophyte grass, belonging to the Poaceae family and physicochemical characteristics, cell localization, conserved motifs and gene structure were determined and evolutionary relationships among different species were considered. AlDHN proteins were classified in the YnSKn subgroup based on highly conserved domains. The expression pattern of AlDHN.5 gene as a homologue of RAB18 (AT5G66400) gene was examined in both leaf and root tissues under salinity, drought, cold stresses and abscisic acid treatment. Analysis of the expression pattern of this gene in both leaf and root tissues showed that this gene is more expressed in leaf tissue compared to root under drought, cold stresses and ABA treatment. Current study lays the foundation for further studies into the regulation of their expression under various environmental conditions.
Bioinformatics
Seyyed Hamidreza Hashemi-petroudi; Samira Mohammadi
Abstract
Salt stress is one of the abiotic stresses limiting plant growth and development. The ethylene response factor (ERF) is one of the transcription factor family that involved in plant development and responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. Regarding to importance role of genes belonging to ERF gene family ...
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Salt stress is one of the abiotic stresses limiting plant growth and development. The ethylene response factor (ERF) is one of the transcription factor family that involved in plant development and responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. Regarding to importance role of genes belonging to ERF gene family in plant responses to salt stress, identification of these genes in the Aeluropus littoralis, halophyte plant, was considered in this study. In total, 36 non-redundant ERF genes were identified in A. littoralis genome. The phylogenetic tree classified the AlERF gene family into six distinct groups (B1 to B6) based on hemology with the Araboidopsis thaliana. Gene structure analysis revealed that AlERF genes contained zero to two introns. Domain search and conserved motif analyses in AlERF protein sequences determined that 2 motifs (1 and 2) out of the identified 10 motifs participate in the AP2/ERF domain structure. Based on transcriptome data and heatmap diagram, AlERF6.3 gene was expressed more in root tissue under salinity stress, and the least expression level was observed in AlERF6.7 gene in leaf tissue under recovery conditions. The different expression patterns of genes in leaf and root tissues under salt stress suggested different regulatory mechanisms in the gene expression. The results of this study, as the first report on the ERF gene family in A. littoralis, provides basic information for further studies of the functional characteristics of AlERF genes.
Biotic and Abiotic stress
Seyyed Hamidreza Hashemi-petroudi; Ghorbanali Nematzadeh; Markus Kuhlmann
Abstract
Genome-wide identification of orthologs and paralogs gene clusters across different species is considered as a common strategy for predicting gene function. Regarding to importance role of species-specific paralog genes in adaptation to specific environmental stresses, identification of paralog genes ...
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Genome-wide identification of orthologs and paralogs gene clusters across different species is considered as a common strategy for predicting gene function. Regarding to importance role of species-specific paralog genes in adaptation to specific environmental stresses, identification of paralog genes in the Aeluropus littoralis, halophyte plant, was considered in this study. For this purpose, the proteome data of four species including A. littoralis, Oryza sativa, Brachypodium distachyon and Sorghum bicolor was compared genome-widely. Based on OrthoMCL analysis, by comparing of 15916 protein sequences of A. littoralis to proteome of other species, 10312 orthologs gene cluster were identified that shared in all given species while 70 unique paralog gene clusters were devoted to A. littoralis. Gene ontology annotation of these paralog clusters showed that they are involved in key biological processes such as cellular processes, metabolic DNA processes, chromatin organization, response to environmental stimuli and cell growth and cycle. The study of the largest cluster of this set led to the identification of a family of small polypeptides (72-39 aa) that is called DEVIL (DVL). Analysis of A. littoralis transcriptome data in a Heatmap display a divergence in gene expression patterns of DVL gene family that could be an evident for their sub‐functionalization in biological processes and molecular functions of the cell. Functional analysis of AlDVL peptide hormones (phytohormones) could be useful for identifying their potential role in the mechanisms involved in drought and salinity tolerance.
Biotic and Abiotic stress
Seyyed Hamidreza Hashemi-Petroudi; Hamidreza Ghorbani; Markus Kuhlmann
Abstract
Bioinformatic analysis plays an important role in the study of genes and the prediction of their function in response to stresses. Halophyte Aeluropus littoralis, a valuable genetic resource for identifying genes involved in plant tolerance to abiotic stresses. In this study, Phosphoglycerate Dehydrogenase ...
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Bioinformatic analysis plays an important role in the study of genes and the prediction of their function in response to stresses. Halophyte Aeluropus littoralis, a valuable genetic resource for identifying genes involved in plant tolerance to abiotic stresses. In this study, Phosphoglycerate Dehydrogenase (PGDH) gene as the first important enzyme in the synthesis of serine, was Isolated based on EST sequence from plant Aeluropus littoralis in salinity using by the RLM-RACE method. By overlapping the 3’ and EST sequences, a 1506 bp fragment including the ORF region (1268 nucleotides) and 3’UTR region (238 nucleotides) were obtained. The phylogenetic analysis of AlPGDH was done with other ortholog genes in different plants and its homologs were identified. Based on phylogram, the high degree of homology was observed between AlPGDH gene and other homologous genes from monocot cereals such as sorghum, foxtail millet and rice. The AtPGDH co-expression network analysis showed the important role of the PGDH gene in biosynthetic pathways, including amino acid synthesis, secondary metabolites synthesis and the pathway of glycine, serine and threonine metabolism, and its expression analysis indicated that the expression was increased in different stresses. The Phenotyping of the Arabidopsis knockout mutants for PGDH gene in NaCl and PEG stress condition indicated that the growth characteristics were significantly reduced in compared to the control plant, which could be confirmed the role of this gene in the response to salt and drought stress. The findings of this study reveal the functional characteristics of AlPGDH gene, phenotypic changes in AtPGDH mutant plants in exposure to salt and drought stress, and its possible role in increasing plant tolerance to stress.
Molecular Plant Breeding
Sahar Faraji; Seyyed Hamidreza Hashemi-Petroudi; Hamid Najafi-Zarrini; Gholamali Ranjbar
Volume 7, Issue 20 , March 2018, , Pages 13-27
Abstract
Salinity is considered as a perilous environmental stress reducing crop yields, which makes the plant survive difficult via stopping the various mechanisms of it, eventually leading to death. Genes are the momentous factors in multiple physiological pathways regarding to their involvements in stress ...
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Salinity is considered as a perilous environmental stress reducing crop yields, which makes the plant survive difficult via stopping the various mechanisms of it, eventually leading to death. Genes are the momentous factors in multiple physiological pathways regarding to their involvements in stress responses. The gene encoding for Chromodomain Helicase DNA protein (PICKLE, PKL) is one of them, which regulates the other stress-responsive genes transcriptions under unfavorable conditions. Transcripts assay in halophyte Aeluropus littoralis, as a valuable genetic resource, will provide the inspiring information for sensitive crops improvement. Therefore, biochemical properties, functional domains, phylogenetic analysis and promoter cis-elements were investigated in this study, suggesting that this gene may play the critical roles in dealing with stimulus circumstances. Expression profiling of AlPKL in coping with salinity and recovery situations in A. littoralis shoot and root tissues through the qReal-Time PCR technique was also revealed high transcript magnitudes of this gene. Hence, further studies on PKL genes in multiple plant species can provide precious information for better understanding of stress endurance mechanisms.
