Molecular cloning and expression profiling of multiple Dof genes of Sorghum bicolor (L) Moench.

DNA binding with one finger (Dof) proteins represent a family of plant specific transcription factors associated with diverse biological processes, such as seed maturation and germination, phytohormone and light mediated regulation, and plant responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. In present study, a total of 21 Dof genes from Sorghum bicolor were cloned, sequenced and in silico characterized for homology search, revealing their identity to Dof like proteins. The expression profiling of SbDof genes using quantitative RT-PCR in different tissue types and also under drought and salt stresses was attempted. The SbDof genes displayed differential expression either in their transcript abundance or in their expression patterns under normal growth condition. Two of the SbDof genes namely SbDof8 and SbDof12 showed comparatively high level of transcript abundance in all the tissue types tested; whereas some of the SbDof genes showed a distinct tissue specific expression pattern. Further a total of 13 SbDof genes showed differential expression when subjected to either of the abiotic stress i.e. drought or salinity. Three of the SbDof genes namely SbDof12, SbDof19 and SbDof24 were found to be up-regulated in response to drought and salt stress. Comparative analysis of SbDof genes expression revealed existence of a complex transcriptional and functional diversity across plant growth and developmental stages.

Genome- wide characterization of Nuclear Factor Y (NF-Y) gene family of sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench]: a bioinformatics approach.

Nuclear factor Y (NF-Y) is a heterotrimeric transcription factor (TF) complex with preferential binding to CCAAT elements of promoters, regulating gene expression in most of the higher eukaryotes. The availability of plant genome sequences have revealed multiple number of genes coding for the three subunits, namely NF-YA, NF-YB and NF-YC in contrast to single NF-Y gene for each subunit reported in yeast and animals. A total of 33 NF-YTF comprising of 8 NF-YA, 11 NF-YB and 14 NF-YC subunits were accessed from the sorghum genome. The bioinformatic characterization of NF-Y gene family of sorghum for gene structure, chromosome location, protein motif, phylogeny, gene duplication and in-silico expression under abiotic stresses have been attempted in the present study. The identified SbNF-Y genes are distributed on all the 10 chromosomes of sorghum with variability in the frequency and 18 out of 33 SbNF-Ys were found to be intronless. Segmental duplication event was found to be predominant feature based on gene duplication pattern study. Several orthologs and paralogs groups were disclosed through the comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of SbNF-Y proteins along with 36 Arabidopsis and 28 rice NF-Y proteins. In-silico expression analysis under abiotic stresses using rice transcriptome data revealed several of the sorghum NF-Y genes to be associated with salt, drought, cold and heat stresses.

Insights to sequence information of polyphenol oxidase enzyme from different source organisms.

Polyphenol oxidases (PPOs) are widely distributed enzymes among animals, plants, bacteria, and fungi. PPOs often have significant role in many biologically essential functions including pigmentation, sclerotization, primary immune response, and host defense mechanisms. In the present study, forty-seven full-length amino acid sequences of PPO from bacteria, fungi, and plants were collected and subjected to multiple sequence alignment (MSA), domain identification, and phylogenetic tree construction. MSA revealed that six histidine, two phenylalanine, two arginine, and two aspartic acid residues were highly conserved in all the analyzed species, while a single cysteine residue was conserved in all the plant and fungal PPOs. Two major sequence clusters were constructed by phylogenetic analysis. One cluster was of the plant origin, whereas the other one was of the fungal and bacterial origin. Motif GGGMMGDVPTANDPIFWLHHCNVDRLWAVWQ was found in all the species of bacterial and fungus sources. In addition, seven new motifs which were unique for their group were also identified.