Abstract
Heat shock proteins (HSPs) play various stress-protective roles in plants. In this study, three HSP genes were isolated from a suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) cDNA library of Ginkgo biloba leaves treated with cold stress. Based on the molecular weight, the three genes were designated GbHSP16.8, GbHSP17 and GbHSP70. The full length of the three genes were predicted to encode three polypeptide chains containing 149 amino acids (Aa), 152 Aa, and 657 Aa, and their corresponding molecular weights were predicted as follows: 16.67 kDa, 17.39 kDa, and 71.81 kDa respectively. The three genes exhibited distinctive expression patterns in different organs or development stages. GbHSP16.8 and GbHSP70 showed high expression levels in leaves and a low level in gynoecia, GbHSP17 showed a higher transcription in stamens and lower level in fruit. This result indicates that GbHSP16.8 and GbHSP70 may play important roles in Ginkgo leaf development and photosynthesis, and GbHSP17 may play a positive role in pollen maturation. All three GbHSPs were up-regulated under cold stress, whereas extreme heat stress only caused up-regulation of GbHSP70, UV-B treatment resulted in up-regulation of GbHSP16.8 and GbHSP17, wounding treatment resulted in up-regulation of GbHSP16.8 and GbHSP70, and abscisic acid (ABA) treatment caused up-regulation of GbHSP70 primarily.
Highlights
Heat shock protein (HSP) is a type of specific stress protein produced by living organisms in response to high temperatures and other environmental stresses
Sequencing revealed that the full length of the three HSP genes were 905 bp, 623 bp, and 2408 bp (Figure S1), respectively
According to their approximate molecular weight, the three GbHSPs studied in this work were named GbHSP16.8, GbHSP17, GbHSP70
Summary
Heat shock protein (HSP) is a type of specific stress protein produced by living organisms in response to high temperatures and other environmental stresses. Transgenic plants overexpressing HSP genes exhibited improved tolerance to heat, cold stress and drought stress [21,22,23]. Expression analysis indicated that the selected Ginkgo biloba heat shock protein genes from low temperature seedling could be induced by heat stress and other abiotic stress. A study of the cloning and expression of the heat shock protein genes in G. biloba will help reveal the coping mechanism of this plant to the environment and the physiological mechanism of resistance. It can provide the theoretical foundation and gene resources for cultivating resilient forests using gene engineering
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