Isolation and characterization of purple acid phosphatase gene during seedling development in mungbean

Abstract

Purple acid phosphatases (PAPs), which are normally found in plant tissues, can hydrolyze a broad spectrum of phosphate esters. In this study, a mungbean [Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek cv. KPS1] acid phosphatase gene (VrPAP1) was isolated from seedling cotyledons. The full-length of VrPAP1 cDNA contained an open reading frame of 1 644 bp encoding 547 amino acid residues with a predicted molecular mass of 62.07 kDa. Sequence analysis showed that VrPAP1 is purple acid phosphatase. RNA blot analyses indicated that the VrPAP1 accumulated during the first hour in cotyledons of germinating seeds and reached a maximum expression after 24 h and then decreased. The VrPAP1 mRNA was observed in cotyledons, hypocotyls and leaves but not in radicles or dry seeds. DNA blot analysis indicated that VrPAP1 is a single copy gene in the mungbean genome.