title: Transcript Profiling Reveals the Presence of Abiotic Stress and Developmental Stage Specific Ascorbate Oxidase Genes in Plants.
abstract: Abiotic stress and climate change is the major concern for plant growth and crop yield. Abiotic stresses lead to enhanced accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) consequently resulting in cellular damage and major losses in crop yield. One of the major scavengers of ROS is ascorbate (AA) which acts as first line of defense against external oxidants. An enzyme named ascorbate oxidase (AAO) is known to oxidize AA and deleteriously affect the plant system in response to stress. Genome-wide analysis of AAO gene family has led to the identification of five, three, seven, four, and sixAAOgenes inOryza sativa, Arabidopsis, Glycine max, Zea mays, andSorghum bicolorgenomes, respectively. Expression profiling of these genes was carried out in response to various abiotic stresses and during various stages of vegetative and reproductive development using publicly available microarray database. Expression analysis inOryza sativarevealed tissue specific expression ofAAOgenes wherein few members were exclusively expressed in either root or shoot. These genes were found to be regulated by both developmental cues as well as diverse stress conditions. The qRT-PCR analysis in response to salinity and drought stress in rice shoots revealedOsAAO2to be the most stress responsive gene. On the other hand,OsAAO3andOsAAO4genes showed enhanced expression in roots under salinity/drought stresses. This study provides lead about important stress responsiveAAOgenes in various crop plants, which could be used to engineer climate resilient crop plants.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Plant Molecular Biology Laboratory, South Asian University New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Rituraj
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Batth
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Plant Molecular Biology Laboratory, South Asian University New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Kapil
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: School of Biotechnology, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology Jammu, India.
authors.forename: Sumita
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kumari
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Plant Molecular Biology Laboratory, South Asian University New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Ananda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mustafiz
keywords: abiotic stress; ascorbate oxidase; genome-wide analysis; qRT-PCR; reactive oxygen species (ROS)