Journal of Horticultural Sciences

M. K. Chandra Prakash ¹, Reena Rosy Thomas ², M. Krishna Reddy ³, Sukhada Mohandas ⁴

Affiliations
1 Section of Economics and Statistics, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Hessaraghatta, Bangalore - 560 089, IN
2 Project Co-ordinator (Tropical Fruits) Cell, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Hessaraghatta, Bangalore - 560 089, IN
3 Division of Plant Pathology, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Hessaraghatta, Bangalore - 560 089, IN
4 Division of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Hessaraghatta, Bangalore - 560 089, IN

Abstract

Drought and heat contribute to much of the yield decline in agricultural lands all over the world. The basic physiological responses developed against drought and heat stress overlie each other, as; both these stresses eventually lead to dehydration of the cell and to osmotic imbalance. To cope with abiotic stresses, it is necessary to understand plant responses to stresses that disturb homeostatic equilibrium at the cellular and molecular level. Although there has been remarkable progress in this with development of microarray-based expression profiling methods (together with genomic sequence data), understanding on ways to employ these data to engineer plants with improved stresstolerance is still at a nascent stage. However, these data can be used for discovering genes, functional microsatellites and regulatory elements using in silico methods. In this context, single nucleotide repeat marker sequences have been identified which is associated with small heat-shock protein sequence (sHSP) for heat tolerance in Capsicum annuum. These sHSP sequences have some structural features in common; its characteristic is that it is homologous and highly conserved. These sequences have been analyzed for molecular evolutionary conservedness in solanaceaeous crops and have been found to have a single nucleotide repeat sequence and a highly conserved sHSP sequence.

Keywords

Small Heat-Shock Protein (sHSP), Evolutionary, Conserved, Solanaceae, Markers.

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Reena Rosy Thomas ¹, M. K. Chandra Prakash ¹, M. Krishna Reddy ², Sukhada Mohandas ³, Riaz Mahmood ⁴

Affiliations
1 Section of Economics and Statistics, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Hessaraghatta, Bangalore -560089, IN
2 Division of Plant Pathology, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bangalore - 560 089, IN
3 Division of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bangalore - 560 089, IN
4 Dept. of Biotechnology, Kuvempu University, Shimoga - 577 451, IN

Abstract

Abiotic stress often causes a series of morphological, physiological, biochemical and molecular changes that affect plant growth, development and productivity. To cope with abiotic stresses, it is necessary to understand plant responses to stresses that disturb homeostatic equilibrium at the cellular and molecular level. Genomic information on Capsicum annuum has been explored to identify microsatellite markers associated with abiotic stress tolerance and assign them to cognate functional groups related to specific stress responses. Several in silico methods have been used to identify simple sequence repeats associated with stress responsive gene candidates in Capsicum annuum. In this study, a microsatellite marker has been identified in Capsicum annuum associated with Nucleoside Diphosphate Kinase (NDK) having multiple environmental stress tolerance (oxidative, high temperature and salt stress) and which is also highly conserved in crops of Solanaceae. These are house-keeping enzymes that maintain intracellular levels of all nucleoside triphosphates (NTP) with the exception of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). These are also involved in phytochrome A response, UV-B signaling, auxin responses and oxidative stress signaling.

Keywords

Nucleoside Diphosphate Kinase (NDK), Microsatellite, Abiotic Stress, Solanaceae.

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