Cloning of Aluminium Induced Genes in Soybean

News source: ITMT Laboratory, Faculty of Animal Husbandry, The University of Diponegoro, Campus Tembalang, Semarang, Indonesia.
See PDF file for e-mail address., 2002-01-01

Aluminum Toxicity of Soil

Aluminium (Al) toxicity is a major factor which limits world agricultural production, particularly in tropical countries such as Indonesia. The molecular approach is a powerful tool in soybean breeding programs.

Aluminum Tolerance of Soybean

The aims of the research were to identify Al tolerant soybean varieties, obtain Al-induced genes, and increase our understanding of the nature of Al toxicity. Using differential screening of the root tips, a cDNA library was prepared from the soybean (var. "Lumut" ) that was exposed to 0.8 mM Al for 24 h. Five Glycine max aluminium induced (gmali) cDNAs, i.e., gmali1, gmali14, gmali20, gmali49, and gmali50, were isolated.

Use of PCR

Using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), we have also isolated one soybean aminoacyl peptidase which is aluminium induced (sapali). Sequence comparison revealed that the genes induced by aluminium correspond to: plasma membrane H'-ATPase (gmali1, GeneBank Accession No. AF091303) that is triggered to create an electrochemical H' gradient across plasma membrane; aminoacyl peptidase (sapali, GeneBank Accession No. AF091304) which has serine protease activity; histone H3 (gmali 14) which is expressed in the metaphase of cell division points; catalase (gmali20) which functions as an antioxidant; NADH dehydrogenase (gmali49) activity; and auxin induced protein (gmali50), suggesting the possible role of auxin in the regulation of Al tolerance. Expression of the clone genes to Al toxic level on Escherichia coli suggested that all of the clones were involved in Al tolerance.

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