Phylogenetic analyses, protein modeling and active site prediction of two pathogenesis related (PR2 and PR3) genes from bread wheat

PLoS One. 2021 Sep 10;16(9):e0257392. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0257392. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

Wheat is a major staple food and has been extensively grown around the globe. Sessile nature of plants has exposed them to a lot of biotic and abiotic stresses including fungal pathogen attack. Puccinia graminis f.sp. tritici causes stem rust in the wheat crop and leads to 70% decrease in its production. Pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins provide plants with defense against different fungal pathogens as these proteins have antifungal activities. This study was designed to screen Pakistani wheat varieties for PR2 and PR3 proteins and their in silico characterization. PR2 and PR3 genes were screened and isolated by PCR amplification from wheat variety Chenab-70 and Frontana, respectively. The nucleotide sequences of PR2 and PR3 genes were deposited in GenBank with accession numbers MT303867 and MZ766118, respectively. Physicochemical properties, secondary and tertiary structure predictions, and molecular docking of protein sequences of PR2 and PR3 were performed using different bioinformatics tools and software. PR2 and PR3 genes were identified to encode β-1,3-glucanase and chitinase proteins, respectively. Molecular docking of both PR2 and PR3 proteins with beta-glucan and chitin (i.e. their respective ligands) showed crucial amino acid residues involved in molecular interactions. Conclusively, molecular docking analysis of β-1,3-glucanase and chitinase proteins revealed crucial amino acid residues which are involved in ligand binding and important interactions which might have important role in plant defense against fungal pathogens. Moreover, the active residues in the active sties of these proteins can be identified through mutational studies and resulting information might help understanding how these proteins are involved in plant defense mechanisms.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Bread*
  • Catalytic Domain
  • Computer Simulation
  • DNA Mutational Analysis
  • Ligands
  • Molecular Docking Simulation
  • Phylogeny
  • Plant Diseases / genetics
  • Plant Proteins / chemistry
  • Plant Proteins / metabolism
  • Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Protein Conformation
  • Protein Structure, Secondary
  • Seeds / metabolism
  • Triticum / genetics*
  • Triticum / metabolism
  • Triticum / microbiology*

Substances

  • Ligands
  • Plant Proteins

Grants and funding

We are highly thankful to Higher Education Commission (HEC), Islamabad, Government of Pakistan for financial assistance to this research work through a project No. TDF02-150.