Ідентифікація та аналіз in silico генів стрес-індукованих транскрипційних факторів DREB2 у Deschampsia antarctica Desv.

Анотація

Aim. The study of molecular basis of stress resistance in D. antarctica, an extremophile plant inhabiting Maritime Antarctic, focused on transcription factors DREB2 genes involved in signaling pathways during abiotic stress response. Methods. Sequence assembly against the known DREB2 genes based on the reads from SRA archives of D. antarctica genomic DNA and mRNA from NCBI database followed by their analysis in silico. Results. Analysis of assembled sequences of DaDREB2A and DaDREB2B genes shows that they have conservative motives specific to the group DREB2 and show homology with the genes of other cereals from this group. Both genes have introns. DaDREB2B structure was similar to the orthologs, which are shown to be regulated by alternative splicing, however it had a single nucleotide base change, which cause the formation of a new start codon and conversion of constitutive non-functional form of transcripts into the functional. Conclusions. For the first time, two genes of stress-induced DREB2 transcription factors were identified in D. antarctica, which are involved in the regulation of the expression of abiotic stress response genes. A comparative analysis of the structure of DaDREB2B and orthologous genes discovered a mutation that may affect the regulation of gene expression through alternative splicing and ensure its constitutive expression in the extreme environmental conditions.

Keywords: Deschampsia antarctica, DREB2 transcription factors, abiotic stress tolerance, alternative splicing, sequence assembly.