Cloning and expression pattern of a zinc finger protein gene ShSAP1 in Saccharum officinarum

Abstract:

In plants, proteins with A20/AN1 zinc finger domain are involved in stress responses, named as "Stress Associated Protein" (SAP) gene family. Based on Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) sequences information in Badila Saccharum officinarum mature related cDNA library, we cloned an SAP gene from sugarcane full length cDNA library, named ShSAP1 (GenBank: Accession No. HM991960). To characterize ShSAP1, we analyzed its genome structure and expression pattern. Southern blot analysis showed ShSAP1 was present as one or two copy in the genome of Badila. Comparison of ShSAP1 1 008 bp full length cDNA with a genomic frangment (2 241 bp) generated by PCR amplification and sequencing, revealed the presence of two introns (202 bp and 1 052 bp) located in the 5'UTR region. Semiquantitative RT-PCR analysis found ShSAP1 expressed in leaves, roots and stalk in mature sugarcane. Compared with immature stems, ShSAP1 expressed higher in mature stalk. ShSAP1 was induced by different types of treatments, such as salt (200 mmol/L NaCl), drought (10% PEG 6 000), GA3 (200 mg/L), ABA (100 μmol/L) and ET (1 mmol/L) during sugarcane seedling stage. These results indicated that ShSAP1 may function in sugarcane maturation and abiotic stress response processes.