Comparative analysis and partial functional annotation of phytosterol desaturase gene in plants of different botanical families

Abstract

In silico analysis and comparison of the sterol desaturase gene from different plants species like Arabidopsis, rice, tomato and castor covering wide range of botanical familieswas done. The results indicate that Arabidopsis and tomato gene share 50% homology andrice-castor share 68% homology. The homology of sequences between Arabidopsis withother plants is negligible confirming the uniqueness of the gene in every botanical family ofplants. Based on the translated amino acid sequences, the conserved domains in the proteinwere predicted by functional annotation including all enzymes in the database. Although thegenes varied, the functional domains of Arabidopsis-tomato and rice-castor were similar. Themajor domain with specific conserved score was obtained for P450 super family proteins inthe case of Arabidopsis and tomato. Rice and castor showed a conserved domain of steroldesaturase. An interior sequence of Arabidopsis and tomato showed a conserved domain forbrassinosteroid oxidase protein. Based on the annotations, tomato is predicted to producebrassinosteroid as major sterol as like Arabidopsis, which belongs to Brassicaceae family.Rice and castor are predicted to use the desaturase gene for the production of stigmasterol.The results warrant further in vitro and in planta research to understand the functional diversity of the sterol desaturase gene in these plant species.