Genes 2017, 8(9), 224; https://doi.org/10.3390/genes8090224
Functional Characterization of Selected Universal Stress Protein from Salvia miltiorrhiza (SmUSP) in Escherichia coli
Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Medicinal Resources and Natural Pharmaceutical Chemistry, National Engineering Laboratory for Resource Development of Endangered Crude Drugs in Northwest of China, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an 710062, China
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Received: 1 July 2017 / Revised: 20 August 2017 / Accepted: 5 September 2017 / Published: 8 September 2017
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Genetic Regulation of Abiotic Stress Responses)
Abstract
The multigene universal stress protein (USP) family is evolutionarily conserved. Members play indispensable roles in plant tolerance to abiotic stresses. Although relatively well-characterized in model plants, such as Arabidopsis thaliana and Oryza sativa, this family has not been investigated in Salvia miltiorrhiza, an important herbal plant for which yields can be limited by various abiotic stresses. Here, we identified 32 USP family members in the S. miltiorrhiza genome, and used phylogenetic analysis to sort these SmUSPs into four groups. Groups A and B belong to the ATP-binding class whereas Groups C and D are in the non-ATP-binding class. Motif analysis and multiple sequence alignment hinted that members of group A and B were able to bind ATP. Our qRT-PCR data from different tissues/organs and under salt and heat stresses provided an overall expression pattern for those genes. Three SmUSPs (SmUSP1, SmUSP8, and SmUSP27) were cloned from S. miltiorrhiza and functionally characterized in Escherichia coli. Compared with the control cells, those that expressed SmUSPs exhibited enhanced tolerance to salt, heat, and a combination of the two. This suggested that the protein has a protective role in cells when exposed to single-stress and multiple-stress conditions. Our findings provide valuable information that helps improve our understanding of the evolutionary and functional conservation and diversity associated with the USP gene family in S. miltiorrhiza. View Full-TextKeywords:
universal stress protein (USP); gene family; Salvia miltiorrhiza ; Escherichia coli; abiotic stress
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Wang, X.-F.; Su, J.; Yang, N.; Zhang, H.; Cao, X.-Y.; Kang, J.-F. Functional Characterization of Selected Universal Stress Protein from Salvia miltiorrhiza (SmUSP) in Escherichia coli. Genes 2017, 8, 224.
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