Cloning and expression analysis of Triticum aestivum vitamin E gene TaHGGT-7AL

The vitamin E gene TaHGGT-7AL and two other copies were cloned from Triticum aestivum L. variety ‘Kenong 199’and the sequence structure and phylogenetic relationship of the protein sequence were analyzed by bioinformatics. Results showed that the coding region of the TaHGGT-7AL gene was 1227 bp in length, encoding a total of 408 amino acids; the sequence identity of TaHGGT-7AL with the two other copies was 95.45%. The TaHGGT-7AL protein sequence had nine α-helices and showed the sequence homology with grass HGGT protein of between 58.7% and 98.5%. The three TaHGGT genes were located on the 7AL, 7BL, and 7DL chromosomes of the genome, each having a conserved domain of the UbiA prenyltransferase family associated with the membrane and a transit peptide. Phylogenetic analysis showed that TaHGGT-7AL was closely related to gramineous plants. The qRT-PCR analysis results showed that TaHGGT-7AL was only expressed in T.aestivum hulls and grains, and the highest expression was observed 13 d after flowering. Under ABA, low temperature (4℃), drought, and dark stress treatments, the expression of TaHGGT-7AL was up-regulated compared with the control; after 24h of NaCl treatment, the expression increased, indicating that TaHGGT-7AL responds to abiotic stress.