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Identification and characterization of a LEA family gene CarLEA4 from chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

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Abstract

Late-embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins have been reported to be closely correlated with the acquisition of desiccation tolerance during seed development and response of plant to drought, salinity, and freezing, etc. In this study, a LEA gene, CarLEA4 (GenBank accession no. GU247511), was isolated from chickpea based on a cDNA library constructed with chickpea seedling leaves treated by polyethylene glycol (PEG). CarLEA4 contained two exons and one intron within genomic DNA sequence and encoded a putative polypeptide of 152 amino acids. CarLEA4 had a conserved pfam domain, and showed high similarity to the group 4 LEA proteins in secondary structure. It was localized in the nucleus. The transcripts of CarLEA4 were detected in many chickpea organs including seedling leaves, stems, roots, flowers, young pods, and young seeds. CarLEA4 was inhibited by leaf age and showed expression changes in expression during seed development, pod development and germination. Furthermore, the expression of CarLEA4 was strongly induced by drought, salt, heat, cold, ABA, IAA, GA3 and MeJA. Our results suggest that CarLEA4 encodes a protein of LEA group 4 and may be involved in various plant developmental processes and abiotic stress responses.

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Abbreviations

ABA:

Abscisic acid

DAF:

Days after flowering

EST:

Expressed sequence tag

GA3:

Gibberellin

GFP:

Green fluorescent protein

IAA:

Indole-3-acetic acid

LEA:

Late embryogenesis abundant

MeJA:

Methyl jasmonate

ORF:

Open reading frame

PEG:

Polyethylene glycol

RACE:

Rapid amplification of cDNA end

RT-PCR:

Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction

SOMPA:

System of multicultural pluralistic assessment

Subloc:

Subcellular localization

UTR:

Untranslated region

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the partial financial support from the 111 Project of the Ministry of Education of China, from the projects supported by the National Science and Technology Ministry (2006BAD09A04, 2006BAD09A08), from the projects supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30960201, 30860152), from the project supported by the National Science Foundation for Postdoctoral Scientists of China (20080431107), from the project supported by the Jiangsu Science Foundation of Postdoctoral Scientists of China (0801048B), and from the project supported by the Xinjiang Science and Technology Department of China (200991254) for this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Germplasm Enhancement, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China

    Hanyan Gu, Yuying Jia, Xiansheng Wang & Hao Ma

  2. Key Laboratory of Agricultural Biotechnology, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi, 830052, China

    Quanjia Chen, Shubing Shi, Lin Ma, Jusong Zhang & Hua Zhang

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  1. Hanyan Gu
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  2. Yuying Jia
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  8. Hua Zhang
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  9. Hao Ma
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Correspondence to Hua Zhang or Hao Ma.

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Gu, H., Jia, Y., Wang, X. et al. Identification and characterization of a LEA family gene CarLEA4 from chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). Mol Biol Rep 39, 3565–3572 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-011-1130-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-011-1130-6

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