Cloning and characterization of endo-β-1,4-glucanase genes in the common wheat line three pistils

Abstract

In this work, we report the cloning and characterization of endo-β-1,4-glucanase (EGase) genes (TaEG) in the com-mon wheat line three pistils. Three TaEG homoeologous genes (TaEG-4A, TaEG-4B and TaEG-4D) were isolated and found to be located on chromosomes 4AL, 4BS and 4DS, respectively. The three genes showed high conserva-tion of their coding nucleotide sequences and 3 untranslated region. The putative TaEG protein had a molecular mass of 69 kDa, a theoretical pI of 9.39 and a transmembrane domain of 74-96 amino acids in the N-terminus that an-chored the protein to the membrane. The genome sequences of TaEG-4A, TaEG-4B and TaEG-4D contained six exons and five introns. All of the introns, except for intron IV, varied in length and sequence composition. Phylogen-etic analysis revealed that TaEG was most closely related to rice (Oryza sativa) OsGLU1. The TaEG transcript levels increased significantly during the subsidiary pistil primordium differentiation phase (spike size ~7-10 mm) in Chuanmai 28 TP (CM28TP). These data provide a basis for future research into the function of TaEG and offer in-sights into the molecular mechanism of the three pistils mutation in wheat. © 2013, Sociedade Brasileira de Genética.