Vigna subterranea ammonium transporter gene (VsAMT1): Some bioinformatics insights

Adewole T Adetunji; Francis B Lewu; Richard Mundembe

doi:10.1016/j.btre.2015.10.003

Vigna subterranea ammonium transporter gene (VsAMT1): Some bioinformatics insights

Biotechnol Rep (Amst). 2015 Oct 22:8:88-93. doi: 10.1016/j.btre.2015.10.003. eCollection 2015 Dec.

Authors

Adewole T Adetunji¹, Francis B Lewu¹, Richard Mundembe²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Agriculture, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Holy Oke Building, Huis Meiring, Wellington Campus, Wellington 7655, Western Cape, South Africa.
² Department of Biotechnology and Consumer Sciences, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, P. O. Box 652, Cape Town 8000, South Africa.

Abstract

Ammonium transporters (AMTs) play a role in the uptake of ammonium, the form in which nitrogen is preferentially absorbed by plants. Vigna subterranea (VsAMT1) and Solanum tuberosum (StAMT1) AMT1s were characterized using molecular biology and bioinformatics methods. AMT1-specific primers were designed and used to amplify the AMT1 internal regions. Nucleotide sequencing, alignment and phylogenetic analysis assigned VsAMT1 and StAMT1 to the AMT1 family. The deduced amino acid sequences showed that VsAMT1 is 92% and 89% similar to Phaseolus vulgaris PvAMT1.1 and Glycine max AMT1 respectively, while StAMT1 is 92% similar to Solanum lycopersicum LeAMT1.1, and correspond to the 5th-10th trans-membrane domains. Residues VsAMT1 D23 and StAMT1 D15 are predicted to be essential for ammonium transport, while mutations of VsAMT1 W1A-L and S87A and StAMT1 S76A may further enhance ammonium transport. In addition to nitrogen uptake from the roots, VsAMT1 may also contribute to interactions with rhizobia.

Keywords: Ammonium transporter 1; Bambara groundnut; Vigna subterranean.