Molecular Cloning and Expression Analysis of Ethylene-Insensitive3-Like 1 (ScEIL1) Gene in Sugarcane

Ethylene-insensitive3-like 1 (EIL1) is a transcription factor involving in ethylene signal transduction pathway. In the present study, a ScEIL1 gene encoding EIL1 was cloned from a sugarcane cv. GT 28 (Saccharum hybrid cultivar) using RT-PCR with primers designed based on conserved amino acid sequences of EIL1 from corn and sorghum. The ScEIL1 gene had 2179 base pairs in length and coded for a polypeptide of 639 amino acid residues. The molecular mass of deduced sugarcane EIL1 protein was 71.2 kDa, and the pI was 5.05. The amino acid sequence of ScEIL1 encoded protein was 97, 92 and 91% identical to SbEIL1 (XP 002467935.1) of sorghum, ZmEIL1 (ACG45492.1) of corn and SiEIL1 (XP 004984528.1) of millet, respectively. Real-time PCR analyses results showed ScEIL1 had much higher expression level in the late maturing varieties than in the early maturing varieties, and the expression level of ScEIL1 was higher in the maturing internodes than in the immature and matured internodes, while in leaves it tends to decrease with leaf development and maturation at mature stage. The results from this study may help understand the ethylene regulated sucrose accumulation in sugarcane stalks and leaf development.