In silico mining and functional analysis of AP2/ERF gene in Withania somnifera

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 10; no. 1; p. 4877
• Main Authors: Tripathi, Sandhya, Srivastava, Yashdeep, Sangwan, Rajender Singh, Sangwan, Neelam Singh
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 17-03-2020; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 38; 38/77; 631/449/1659; 631/449/2661; Biosynthesis; Biosynthetic Pathways; Cloning; Cloning, Molecular; Computer Simulation; Data Mining - methods; Gene expression; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Gene regulation; Genes; Genetic analysis; Genetic transformation; Homology; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Multigene Family; Plant Proteins - genetics; Plant Proteins - metabolism; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Sequence Analysis, RNA; Terpenes - metabolism; Tissue Distribution; Transcription Factors - genetics; Transcription Factors - metabolism; Withania - genetics; Withania - metabolism; Withania somnifera
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-60090-7

Withania somnifera
owing to its strong and remarkable stress tolerance property is a reliable candidate for the determination of genes involved in mechanism of adaption/tolerance of various stress conditions. 187
AP2/ERF
gene related transcripts (GRTs) were identified during comprehensive search in
W. somnifera
transcriptome repertoire. Major hits in homology search were observed from the model plant
Arabidopsis
and members of Solanaceae family. Cloning, expression analysis of the gene and genetic transient transformation with the gene (
WsAP2
) were performed to predict its functional role
in planta
. Enhanced expression of some of the pathway genes for terpenoid biosynthesis was observed in transformed tissues in comparison to the control tissues. It is speculated that
WsAP2
gene crucially regulates the expression of
GGPPS
gene in addition to the regulation of other important genes of terpenoid pathway
via
induction of expression of other genes such as
HMGR
,
CAS
,
DXS
and
DXR
. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report representing detailed study of
AP2/ERF
gene family in
W. somnifera
. It is also suggested from the study that gene might have role in eliciting responses to combat stress and attribute the strong stress tolerant property associated with the plant.