Transcriptome-wide identification and computational insights into protein modeling and docking of CAMTA transcription factors in Eleusine coracana L (finger millet)

Abstract

Calmodulin-binding transcription activator (CAMTA) are a group of transcription factors that are known to perform various important biological functions in plants. Here, we report 7 putative CAMTA transcription factors identified from finger millet transcriptome data. They were further analyzed for physicochemical properties, subcellular localization, conserved domains and motifs, Gene Ontology (GO) terms, phylogeny, 3D structure prediction and CAMTA-Ca²⁺-Calmodulin interaction through protein-protein docking. All EcCAMTAs were found to be localized in the nucleus and possessed a calmodulin binding domain (CaMBD). GO results indicated the involvement of CAMTAs in DNA binding and protein binding molecular functions. Phylogenetic analysis classified EcCAMTA genes into 3-subgroups. 3D-structure of CAMTA proteins was elucidated through ab-initio protein modeling and its interaction with Calmodulin was investigated by docking studies. Our study provides molecular insight into the structure and function of CAMTA genes in finger millet and also highlights the role of omics-based in-silico approaches for identification of novel gene families in the absence of a reference genome or annotated database. This being the first study of CAMTA transcription factor family in finger millet, it could serve as a resource for further studies of CAMTA genes either in finger millet or other related millets and cereal crops.

Keywords: 3D modeling; CAMTA transcription factors; Finger millet; Protein-protein docking; Transcriptome data.