Journal of Biotechnology & Biomaterials
Open Access

Abstract

Phosphorus (P) is poorly available for plants due to its assimilation by microbes and strong interaction with most of the cations within the soil. Under P-limiting environments, plant exploits selective high- and low-affinity phosphate transporters (PHTs) to enhance their ability of Inorganic phosphate (Pi) uptake into roots, translocation to shoots and remobilization into developing sink tissues. Cereal grains accumulate high amounts of Pi during seed development either as free Pi or bound form (~80% is phytic acid). Although, seed is a major �sink� for Pi utilization, not many reports addressing the importance of the Pi homeostasis and phytic acid accumulation in seeds. This warrants detailed investigation of Pi homeostasis and transport functions in developing seed tissues. The current study aims to identify seed-specific wheat (Triticum aestivum) PHTs and evaluate their importance during wheat grain development. Genome wide survey, EST analysis and phylogeny revealed 23 putative TaPHTs in wheat, mainly distributed into four sub-families, including PHT1 (1-14), PHT2, PHT3 (1-3), PHT4 (1-6). Genomic coordinates were ascertained for all the identified TaPHTs and their location on the chromosomes was also confirmed. qRT-PCR analysis resulted in identification of wheat PHTs those were highly expressed in seeds. Co-relation studies were performed on the seed tissue between gene expression and accumulation of Pi. Our result suggested enhanced expression of certain wheat PHTs in specific seed tissues as compared to other seed parts. Interestingly, phosphate homeostasis related genes (PHO-pathway) were also differentially expressed in seed tissues. Future works are directed to functionally characterize the identified high affinity PHTs from wheat. The above work will help in understanding of relevant signaling networks empowering phosphate accumulation in developing cereal grains.

Biography

Email: shuklavrk@gmail.com Shukla@nabi.res.in