Bioinformatic Analysis of Calcium-dependent Protein Kinase Family of <i>Medicago truncatula</i>

Abstract

Calcium plays an important biological role in plants, regulating cell wall formation, pollen tube development, biotic and abiotic stress signal transduction and so on. Calcium-dependent protein kinases (CDPKs) genes are able to perceive the change of intracellular Ca 2+ concentrations and convert it into specific phosphorylation events, initiating downstream signal transduction. We used bioinformatics data and analysis techniques to identify family members of the CDPKs gene in two varieties of Medicago , namely Medicago truncatula and Medicago lupulina L., and to analyze the structure, evolution and expression of these CDPKs genes, preliminarily predicted the functions of these genes. 25 CDPKs genes present in the genome of Medicago truncatula , which were divided into four evolutionary groups. The evolutionary relationship of CDPKs gene of Medicago truncatula was close to that of Arabidopsis thaliana but had a distant relation with Oryza sativa . Three CDPKs genes, Medtr1g041150, Medtr1g054865 and Medtr1g055255, clustered on chromosome 1 of Medicago truncatula , were highly similar and might be amplified from one gene. We analyzed the expression of CDPKs gene of Medicago truncatula in in different organs and under different treatments with existing gene expression data of Medicago truncatula , and found several genes related to the salt tolerance, root rot resistance and nodule growth of Medicago truncatula .