Abstract
Transcription factors BABY BOOM (BBM), WUSCHEL (WUS), BSD, LEAFY COTYLEDON (LEC), LEAFY COTYLEDON LIKE (LIL), VIVIPAROUS1 (VP1), CUP SHAPED COTYLEDONS (CUC), BOLITA (BOL), and AGAMOUS LIKE (AGL) play a crucial role in somatic embryogenesis. In this study, we identified eighteen genes of these nine transcription factors families from the banana genome database. All genes were analyzed for their structural features, subcellular, and chromosomal localization. Protein sequence analysis indicated the presence of characteristic conserved domains in these transcription factors. Phylogenetic analysis revealed close evolutionary relationship among most transcription factors of various monocots. The expression patterns of eighteen genes in embryogenic callus containing somatic embryos (precisely isolated by Laser Capture Microdissection), non-embryogenic callus, and cell suspension cultures of banana cultivar Grand Naine were analyzed. The application of 2, 4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2, 4-D) in the callus induction medium enhanced the expression of MaBBM1, MaBBM2, MaWUS2, and MaVP1 in the embryogenic callus. It suggested 2, 4-D acts as an inducer for the expression of these genes. The higher expression of MaBBM2 and MaWUS2 in embryogenic cell suspension (ECS) as compared to non-embryogenic cells suspension (NECS), suggested that these genes may play a crucial role in banana somatic embryogenesis. MaVP1 showed higher expression in both ECS and NECS, whereas MaLEC2 expression was significantly higher in NECS. It suggests that MaLEC2 has a role in the development of non-embryogenic cells. We postulate that MaBBM2 and MaWUS2 can be served as promising molecular markers for the embryogencity in banana.
Highlights
Banana is an important staple food fruit crop in several developing countries
Nine Transcription factors (TFs) families (BBM, WUS, BSD, LEAFY COTYLEDON (LEC), L1L, VP1, CUP SHAPED COTYLEDONS (CUC), BOL and AGAMOUS LIKE (AGL)) were selected for the in-silico study. Homologs of these TFs were identified in arabidopsis, maize and rice (TAIR, http://www.arabidopsis.org; http://bioinformatics.psb.ugent.be/plaza; TIGR, http://rice. plantbiology.msu.edu) and used as a query sequence in BLASTP search to retrieve the sequences from the banana genome
Protein sequence identity between banana TFs and their homologs in arabidopsis, maize, and rice ranges from 24% to 83%, 25% to 74%, and 45% to 74%, respectively (S2 Table)
Summary
Banana is an important staple food fruit crop in several developing countries. Being a vegetatively propagated plant, its multiplication index through sucker is very low [1]. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section
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