title: Functional and structural insights into novel DREB1A transcription factors in common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.): A molecular modeling approach.
abstract: Triticum aestivum L. known as common wheat is one of the most important cereal crops feeding a large and growing population. Various environmental stress factors including drought, high salinity and heat etc. adversely affect wheat production in a significant manner. Dehydration-responsive element-binding (DREB1A) factors, a class of transcription factors (TF) play an important role in combating drought stress. It is known that DREB1A specifically interacts with the dehydration responsive elements (DRE/CRT) inducing expression of genes involved in environmental stress tolerance in plants. Despite its critical interplay in plants, the structural and functional aspects of DREB1A TF in wheat remain unresolved. Previous studies showed that wheat DREBs (DREB1 and DREB2) were isolated using various methods including yeast two-hybrid screens but no extensive structural models were reported. In this study, we made an extensive in silico study to gain insight into DREB1A TF and reported the location of novel DREB1A in wheat chromosomes. We inferred the three-dimensional structural model of DREB1A using homology modelling and further evaluated them using molecular dynamics(MD) simulations yielding refined modelled structures. Our biochemical function predictions suggested that the wheat DREB1A orthologs have similar biochemical functions and pathways to that of AtDREB1A. In conclusion, the current study presents a structural perspective of wheat DREB1A and helps in understanding the molecular basis for the mechanism of DREB1A in response to environmental stress.
authors.affiliation: Advance Centre for Computational & Applied Biotechnology, Uttarakhand Council for Biotechnology, Dehradun 248007, India; Bioclues. Org, Kukatpally, Hyderabad 500072, Telangana, India.
authors.forename: Anuj
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Bioinformatics Centre, Biotech Park, Lucknow 226018, India.
authors.forename: Sanjay
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Centre for Excellence in Mountain Biology, Uttarakhand Council for Biotechnology, Biotech Bhavan, Haldi, U.S. Nagar 263146, India.
authors.forename: Upendra
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Bioclues. Org, Kukatpally, Hyderabad 500072, Telangana, India; Bioinformatics Organization, 28 Pope St, Hudson, MA 01749, USA.
authors.forename: Prashanth
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Suravajhala
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biotechnology, Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University, Rajendra Nagar, Hyderabad 500030, India. Electronic address: gajula.ibt@gmail.com.
authors.forename: M N V Prasad
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Gajula
mesh_terms: D020134:Catalytic Domain; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D008958:Models, Molecular; D056004:Molecular Dynamics Simulation; D010802:Phylogeny; D055550:Protein Stability; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics*; D059467:Transcriptome; D014908:Triticum / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D014157:Transcription Factors
keywords: DREB1A; Homology modeling; Responsive elements and molecular dynamics simulations; Transcription factors