Book of Extended summaries ISDA

International Conference on Reimagining Rainfed Agro-ecosystems: Challenges &
Opportunities during 22-24, December 2022 at ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad
Gene expressions play a pivotal role in achieving tolerance in plants under salinity stress.
Several genes such as transcription factors, phospholipases, defense-related genes, etc.
including the helicases are known to express under the influence of various abiotic stresses.
The helicases are ubiquitous enzymes that catalyze the unwinding of DNA duplexes (DNA
helicases) or RNA duplexes (RNA helicases). The constitutive expression of such genes can
provide stress tolerance when overexpressed. PDH45, p68 and LecRLK homolog from Pisum
sativum has been reported to provide salinity stress tolerance by overexpression in tobacco and
rice plants (Tuteja et al. 2014; Passricha et al. 2020). RuvB helicase is a highly conserved,
multifunctional, and essential enzyme, primarily involved in numerous mechanisms such as
DNA damage repair, mitotic assembly, switching of histone variants, and assembly of
telomerase core complex. Several studies observed its upregulation in rice under salinity, cold,
and heat stress. The presence of unique helicases and the upregulation of their transcripts under
abiotic stress conditions suggests their involvement in multiple cellular pathways. The present
study aims to characterize RuvB helicase and identify its potential proteins that might play a
role in imparting tolerance against salt stress in transgenic pigeon peas with the RuvB gene
from Oryza sativa under a constitutive promoter.
Methodology
The sequence of the RuvB-like genes from Oryza sativa was retrieved in the FASTA format
from the Rice Annotation Project Database. The Gene Structure Display Server
(http://gsds.gao-lab.org/) and Fegensh+ were used to determine the gene structure. Protein
family, Domain, DNA/RNA/Protein binding sites, and conserved regions were predicted using
CDD, Predictprotein, and Pfam. The Swiss Model was used for structure prediction. QMEAN,
SAVES, molprobity, etc. were further used for structure assessment, optimization, and
verification of the predicted models. Interacting protein partners were predicted using the
String database.
Results
The sequence of the RuvB-like genes from Oryza sativa with locus ID Os01g0837500 was
retrieved in the FASTA format. Fegensh+ predicted protein coding sequence at the minus
strand. The sequence contains both 3’ and 5’ UTR regions and 14 exons. Heat, cold, and salt
tolerance was associated with trait ontology and the highest expression of the gene has been
identified in inflorescence, ovary, and pistil by the RAP-DB. The expression of the gene was
also identified in the leaf blade as well as in the endosperm. DNA binding (from amino acid
residues 1-15, 63-67, and 218-224), RNA binding (from amino acid residues 2-13 and 219-
223), and Protein binding (from amino acid residues 9-14, 295-297 and 427-429) sites were
predicted using Predictprotein. The possible role of OsRuvb is predicted biological processes
like Organic cyclic compound, cellular aromatic compound, and heterocycle metabolic
Managing genetic resources for enhanced stress tolerance
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