Cloning and characterization of functional keratinassociated protein 5-4 gene in maize

Abstract

Keratin-associated proteins (KAPs) 5-4 which belongs to keratin-associated protein (KRTAP) type 5 family has two major groups: high/ultrahigh cysteine (HS) and high glycine-tyrosine (HGT). Based on bioinformatic prediction, we experimentally cloned a fragment containingan open reading frame of 1849 bp from maize, which encodes a protein of 408 amino acids. BLAST analysis indicated that KAP5-4 is homologous to the qPE9-1 protein in rice. Conserved domains analysis predicted the presence of five domains. Real time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) indicated that the expression of this gene is up-regulated in response to water-deficit stress in the root and leaf.

Keywords: Maize, keratin-associated protein 5-4, water-deficit stress.

African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 11(29), pp. 7417-7423, 10 April, 2012