Cloning and in silico analysis of a gene encoding a putative β-carbonic anhydrase from cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp)

Abstract

A gene encoding putative β-carbonic anhydrase gene (CA) from cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp.) was characterized and designated as VuCA1 (GenBank ID: JQ429799). While the genomic sequence of CA was found to be 1470 bp long with 4 introns, the open reading frame was 990 bp in length. The deduced amino acid sequence of CA contained two characteristic conserved domains, i.e. CSDSRV and EYAVLHLKVSNIVVIGHSACG, which showed high degree of homology with other β-CA genes of angiosperms. We have reported three-dimensional model of VuCA1 and quality of the predicted model was analysed with PROCHECK. Molecular docking of modeled VuCA1 revealed similar binding pockets for different substrates and products. The expression of VuCA1 transcripts was detected in different parts of the cowpea plant, with highest level observed in leaves, followed by flower buds, weak expression in stems, and the weakest in roots. The expression of VuCA1 transcripts of leaves was downregulated by zinc deficiency but upregulated by salt and dehydration stress.

Cowpea genetic resources and its utilization: Indian perspective – A review

“…EST were found valuable in genetic diversity and phylogenetic studies in cowpea as well as in the other Vigna species (Gupta et al 2012). Mondal et al (2013) characterized gene encoding putative β-carbonic anhydrase (CA) from cowpea and designated it as VuCA1 (GenBank ID: JQ429799). Transgenic cowpea was developed by inoculating in vitro-germinated seedlings of cultivar Pusa Komal with Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain and reported that this transformation method is efficient and reproducible and could be used to introduce desirable genes into cowpea for biotic and abiotic stress tolerance (Chaudhury et al 2007;Bakshi et al 2011;Bakshi et al 2012).…”