Glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPDH) gene family in Zea mays L.: Identification, subcellular localization, and transcriptional responses to abiotic stresses

Abstract

Glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPDH) catalyzes the formation of glycerol-3-phosphate, and plays an essential role in glycerolipid metabolism and in response to various stresses in different species. In this study, six ZmGPDH genes were obtained by a thorough search against maize genome, and designated as ZmGPDH1-6, respectively. The structural and evolutionary analyses showed that the ZmGPDHs family had typical conserved domains and similar protein structures as the known GPDHs from other plant species. ZmGPDHs were divided into NAD+-dependent type A form (ZmGPDH1-5) and FAD-dependent type B form (ZmGPDH6) based on their N-terminal sequences. Four full length ZmGPDHs were fused with GFP fusion proteins, and their subcellular localization was determined. ZmGPDH1 and ZmGPDH3 were located to the cytosol and mainly recruited to the surface of endoplasmic reticulum (ER), whereas ZmGPDH4 and ZmGPDH5 were located in the chloroplast. The transcriptional analysis of the ZmGPDHs in different maize tissues revealed relatively high level of transcripts accumulation of ZmGPDHs in roots and early stage developing seeds. Furthermore, we examined the transcriptional responses of the six GPDH genes in maize under various abiotic stresses, including salt, drought, alkali and cold, and significant induction of ZmGPDHs under osmotic stresses was observed. Together, this work will provide useful information for deciphering the roles of GPDHs in plant development and abiotic stress responses.

Systematic in silico Evaluation of Leishmania spp. Proteomes for Drug Discovery

“…In both Leishmania species studied, GPDH proteins (LbrM.10.0640 and LinJ.10.0560) were identified as central proteins in the PIN and potential drug targets, a fact that is compatible with literature data (Suresh et al, 2000 ; Ogungbe and Setzer, 2013 ; Passalacqua et al, 2015 ) since such proteins are essential for parasite survival, and present structural characteristics consistent with the requirements for intelligent drug design (Cruz et al, 2012 ; da Silva et al, 2012 ; Belluti et al, 2014 ; Costa et al, 2020 ), being drug targets already studied in other trypanosomatids such as Trypanosoma cruzi (Leite et al, 2009 ; Maluf et al, 2013 ) and Trypanosoma brucei (Haanstra et al, 2017 ). In addition to having a key role in the glycolytic pathway that is related to the energy production of the parasite (Naderer et al, 2010 ; Zhao et al, 2018 ), those proteins participate indirectly in the pentose phosphate pathway, therefore they are related to the maintenance of the disease state, since that pathway represents an important process to parasitic defense against reactive oxygen species produced by hosts (Maugeri et al, 2003 ; Costa et al, 2020 ).…”

Embryonic developmental arrest in the annual killifish Austrolebias charrua: A proteomic approach to diapause III

“…This pathway is essential for the cell stress response, as taurine is responsible for protection during osmotic stress and hypotaurine is protective during oxidative stress [ 61 ]. In this sense, glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase is essential for Saccharomyces cerevisiae growth under osmotic stress, and significant induction of this enzyme was observed under abiotic stresses in maize [ 62 , 63 ]. The increased level of DIA pyruvate dehydrogenase would provide acetyl-CoA to the Krebs cycle.…”

Identification of differentially expressed transcripts for trunk formation in sago palm using annealing control primer GeneFishing technique

“…The protein product, glycerol, is a compound involved in metabolism and cell signaling, particularly in osmotic stress signaling. Glycerol helps maintain the water balance in cells and enhances resistance to osmotic stress [64,65]. Its other products appear to be involved in reactions related to energy metabolism and structure formation.…”