Abstract
UDP-glycosyltransferases (EC 2.4.1.x; UGTs) are enzymes coded by an important gene family of higher plants. They are involved in the modification of secondary metabolites, phytohormones, and xenobiotics by transfer of sugar moieties from an activated nucleotide molecule to a wide range of acceptors. This modification regulates various functions like detoxification of xenobiotics, hormone homeostasis, and biosynthesis of secondary metabolites. Here, we describe the identification of 96 UGT genes in Cicer arietinum (CaUGT) and report their tissue-specific differential expression based on publically available RNA-seq and expressed sequence tag data. This analysis has established medium to high expression of 84 CaUGTs and low expression of 12 CaUGTs. We identified several closely related orthologs of CaUGTs in other genomes and compared their exon-intron arrangement. An attempt was made to assign functional specificity to chickpea UGTs by comparing substrate binding sites with experimentally determined specificity. These findings will assist in precise selection of candidate genes for various applications and understanding functional genomics of chickpea.
Highlights
IntroductionCommonly known as chickpea belongs to the plant family Fabaceae
Cicer arietinum, commonly known as chickpea belongs to the plant family Fabaceae
Predicted proteome, which consisted of 28,269 gene models, of chickpea was taken as a dataset to carry out Basic Local Alignment Search [12] by taking conserved Plant Secondary Product Glycosyltransferase [9] (PSPG) motif of UGT from
Summary
Commonly known as chickpea belongs to the plant family Fabaceae. It is one of the ancient and second most widely grown legumes in the world (FAO, 2008) [1]. Chickpea is free from cholesterol and a good source of vitamins, minerals and fibers [2]. It has carotenoids like b-carotene, lutein, zeaxanthin, b-cryptoxanthin, lycopene and a-carotene. Chickpea contains phenolic compounds like isoflavones, biochanin A, formononetin, daidzein, genistein, matairesinol and secoisolariciresinol [2]. Research has shown that the consumption of chickpea seeds reduces the cholesterol level in blood [3]. Various bioactive compounds in plants have several economic and health benefits, it will be important to study the genes involved in their biosynthesis
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
