Brassica juncea var. tumida Tsen et Lee (Tumorous stem mustard) is an unique vegetable in China. Its enlarged tumorous stem was used as main raw material to produce pickle (Zhacai). In practice, early-bolting happens around 15% of planting area all year and inhibits its production. Here, about 209 PP2C proteins were identified through HMMER software and divided into 13 sub-families in B. juncea. BjuPP2C52 belongs to E sub-family, was up-regulated at reproductive growth stages and interacts with BjuFKF1, a key protein in regulating plant photoperiod flowering, in vitro and in vivo. To explore interactive proteins, BjuPP2C52 was used as bait, 12 potential interactive proteins were screened from yeast library, and they are BjuCOL3, BjuCOL5, BjuAP2, BjuAP2-1, BjuSVP-1, BjuFLC-2, BjuSKP1f, BjuA014572, BjuA008686, BjuO002119, BjuB036787 and BjuA019268. Further study verified that 10 out of the 12 screened proteins interacted with BjuPP2C52 in vivo. qRT-PCR was conducted to understand the expression pattern of those 10 interactive proteins in different tissues and development stages in B. juncea. The results showed that BjuCOL3, BjuCOL5, BjuB036787 and BjuA019268 were significantly up-regulated, while BjuA008686 and BjuO002119 were down-regulated in flowers compared with other four tissues. In developmental stages, BjuCOL5, BjuAP2, BjuAP2-1, BjuA014572, BjuB036787 and BjuA019268 were significantly up-regulated, while BjuSVP-1, BjuA008686 and BjuO002119 were down-regulated at reproductive stages. Based on the results, BjuCOL5, BjuAP2, BjuAP2-1, BjuSVP-1, BjuA014572, BjuB036787 and BjuA019268 may function in regulating flowering time in B. juncea.
Keywords: B. juncea; BjuPP2C52; Expression levels; Interactive protein; Yeast two hybrid.
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