Abscisic acid (ABA) regulates plant responses to various environmental stresses. Oxidative cleavage of cis-epoxycarotenoids catalyzed by 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase (NCED) is the critical step in the biosynthesis of ABA in higher plants. Using a homologous cloning approach, a NCED-like gene (designated as TaNCED1) was isolated from wheat (Triticum aestivum). It contained an open reading frame of 1 848 bp and encodes a peptide of 615 amino acids. Multiple sequence alignments showed that TaNCED1 shared high identity with NCEDs from other plants. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that TaNCED1 was most closely related to a barley HvNCED1 gene. The predicted 3D structure of TaNCED1 showed high similarity with other homologues. Southern blot analysis indicated that TaNCED1 was a single copy in the genome of wheat. TaNCED1 was differentially expressed in various organs and the expression was up-regulated by low temperature, drought, NaCl, and ABA. Heterologous expression of TaNCED1 in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) significantly improved its drought tolerance. Under drought treatment, TaNCED1overexpressing transgenic tobacco plants exhibited higher germination rate, higher relative water content, content of soluble sugars and of ABA when compared with the wild type plants.

In this study, the cDNA coding serum transferrin (stf) of Misgurnus anguillicaudatus (mastf) was cloned. mastf cDNA is composed of 2326 bp with a 2007 bp open reading frame encoding 668 amino acids. The deduced Mastf protein consists of a signal peptide, two lobes (N and C-lobes) and signature motifs of transferrin (Tf) family. The results of tissue distribution indicated that mastf mRNA was predominantly expressed in the liver. The results indicate that the mastf expression increased significantly in liver, blood, spleen and head kidney after the challenge with Aeromonas sobria, acting as a positive acute protein, suggesting that mastf is related to the immune response. The cloning and expression analysis of mastf further demonstrates the evolutionary conservation of Stf and immune function in vertebrates.