Genes, Vol. 9, Pages 84: Genome-Wide Identification, Characterization, and Expression Profiling of Glutathione S-Transferase (GST) Family in Pumpkin Reveals Likely Role in Cold-Stress Tolerance

Genes, Vol. 9, Pages 84: Genome-Wide Identification, Characterization, and Expression Profiling of Glutathione S-Transferase (GST) Family in Pumpkin Reveals Likely Role in Cold-Stress Tolerance Genes doi: 10.3390/genes9020084 Authors: Md. Abdul Kayum Ujjal Nath Jong-In Park Manosh Biswas Eung Choi Jae-Young Song Hoy-Taek Kim Ill-Sup Nou Plant growth and development can be adversely affected by cold stress, limiting productivity. The glutathione S-transferase (GST) family comprises important detoxifying enzymes, which play major roles in biotic and abiotic stress responses by reducing the oxidative damage caused by reactive oxygen species. Pumpkins (Cucurbita maxima) are widely grown, economically important, and nutritious; however, their yield can be severely affected by cold stress. The identification of putative candidate genes responsible for cold-stress tolerance, including the GST family genes, is therefore vital. For the first time, we identified 32 C. maxima GST (CmaGST) genes using a combination of bioinformatics approaches and characterized them by expression profiling. These CmaGST genes represent seven of the 14 known classes of plant GSTs, with 18 CmaGSTs categorized into the tau class. The CmaGSTs were distributed across 13 of pumpkin’s 20 chromosomes, with the highest numbers found on chromosomes 4 and 6. The large number of CmaGST genes resulted from gene duplication; 11 and 5 pairs of CmaGST genes were segmental- and tandem-duplicated, ...
Source: Genes - Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Tags: Article Source Type: research