Sequencing and phylogenetic study of APETALA1 homologous gene in garden cress (Lepidium sativum L.)

Abstract

The flowering process in plants proceeds through the induction of an inflorescence meristem triggered by several pathways. Many of the genes associated with these pathways encode transcription factors of the MADS domain family. The MADS-domain transcription factor APETALA1 (AP1) is a key regulator of flower development. The first step in the understanding of molecular mechanisms under the function of each gene in a plant is identification, sequencing and phylogeny analysis of that gene. For this purpose, total RNA was isolated from the flower bud of garden cress (Lepidium sativum L.) and used for cDNA synthesis. The specific primers were designed on the basis of nucleotide sequence alignment of AP1 homologus genes from plants of the same family Brassicaceae and used in RTPCR. After observing its electrophoretic pattern and ensuring the quality of PCR product, the amplicon was sent for sequencing. Once the results of sequencing were received, the sequence was examined by BLAST, MUSCLE, Gene Runner and MEGA6 software. The results indicated the amplification of 787 nucleotides fragment namely LsAP1, which was recorded by accession number KP070728 in NCBI database. The studies showed high similarity and overlapping of gene bank sequences with LsAP1 illative protein. According to these results, LsAP1 might play a similar role as AP1 in flower induction and could act as a flower meristem identity gene in Lepidium sativum L.