Computational and Real-Time RT-PCR Expression Analyses of Garlic Lectin Gene

Sucking insect pests inflict heavy losses to important crops. Bt gene being unable to control sucking insects, lectin seems to be a good alternative insecticidal gene. However, studies on sequence analysis, evolutionary relationship and expression patterns of garlic lectin genes remained elusive. Therefore, this study was envisaged to explore lectin gene sequence diversity in different species, and to analyze differential expression of lectin genes in garlic bulb, leaf and root tissues. Phylogenetic reconstruction did not reveal well-defined clusters indicating divergence in lectin sequences in different plant species. Multiple alignments exhibited conservation in lectin coding sequences in the middle regions. On the other hand, both the N- and C-termini were quite divergent and size of the coding regions varied greatly in different orthologs probably due to exonization of introns. Semi-quantitative and quantitative RT-PCR exhibited elevated expression of lectin genes in garlic bulb as compared to leaf and root tissues. this study has future implications in transforming insecticidal genes in crops against sucking insects. (C) 2015 Friends Science Publishers