Isolation and characterization of photosystem 2 PsbR gene and its promoter from drought-tolerant plant Prosopis juliflora

Abstract

Prosopis juliflora is a hardy plant tolerant to drought, salinity, extremes of soil pH, and heavy metal stress. We isolated and characterized a photosystem 2 (PS2) gene PsbR (Pj PsbR) and its promoter. Northern analysis for Pj PsbR in P. juliflora leaves under 25 % polyethylene glycol stress showed steady decrease in transcript level at 12, 24, and 48 h after stress application. Under 90 mM H 2 O 2 stress, transcript level dropped drastically at 12 h, but increased again compared to the control at 24 h. A 1.7 kb fragment upstream the 5' UTR of this gene (putative promoter) was isolated and analyzed in silico. Several putative cis-acting DNA elements were identified in this sequence.