Isolation and in silico analysis of promoter of a high salinity stress-regulated pea DNA helicase 45

Abstract

Helicases are motor proteins that can transiently catalyze the unwinding of energetically stable duplex DNA or RNA molecules by using ATP hydrolysis as the source of energy. Many helicases share a core region of highly conserved sequence motifs, and belong to the rapidly growing DEAD-box protein family. Pea DNA helicase 45 (PDH45), that exhibits striking homology with eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4A (eIF4A), contains ATP-dependent DNA and RNA helicase, DNA-dependent ATPase, and ATP-binding activities. The transcript of the PDH45 gene was reported to be upregulated in pea plant in response to high salinity, cold stress, abscisic acid (ABA), dehydration and early wounding. The first direct evidence that overexpression of PDH45 confers salinity stress tolerance without yield loss has also been reported. A promoter analysis of PDH45 gene has not been studied. The cis-regulatory elements present on promoter region of the gene act as binding sites for RNA polymerase and transcription factors and control the regulation of gene expression. Here we report the promoter of the PDH45 gene that contains stress-responsive cis-regulatory elements which may be responsible for regulating the expression of PDH45 under abiotic stress conditions.