MOLECULAR MODELING AND IN-SILICO CHARACTERIZATION OF TAPASE, A STRESS-MODULATED ACID PHOSPHATASE GENE FROM WHEAT (TRITICUM AESTIVUM)

Abstract

Acid phosphatases have been reported to play an important role to increase orthophosphate (Pi) availability under abiotic stress conditions thus affecting growth of plants. Previously, we have reported cloning of an acid phosphatase gene (TaPase), its expression analysis and regulation by different abiotic stresses. The present study was designed to analyze in-silico characterization and molecular modeling of TaPase by various bioinformatic approaches like motif analysis, phylogenetic tree construction, secondary structure prediction and 3D structure analysis. Phylogenetic studies of cloned TaPase gene along with other reported phosphatases revealed the existence of three groups. The 3D structure of TaPase protein was predicted by Phyre 2 server. The modeled structure was refined by energy minimization and stereochemical qualities were validated by PROCHECK, VADAR, Verify3D and QMEAN servers, indicating the acceptability of predicted model. Ligand binding studies indicated the interaction of histidine residue with zinc metal. Analysis of cis-elements provides molecular evidence for the possible involvement of TaPase in the process of abiotic stress tolerance in wheat. Based upon these results, a possible physiological role of TaPase in wheat is discussed.