Cloning and Expression Pattern Analysis of Lipid Transfer Protein Gene from Wheat (Triticum aestivum) Responding to Septoria tritici Blotch (STB)

Plant lipid transfer proteins, also known as plant LTPs, are a group of highly-conserved proteins of about 8-10kDa found in higher plant tissues. As its name implies, lipid transfer proteins are responsible for the shuttling of phospholipids and other fatty acid groups between cell membranes. Here we study the expression pattern of Lipid transfer protein gene from wheat (Triticum aestivum) responding to Septoria tritici Blotch (STB) by semi quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). This method is used to qualitatively detect gene expression in different cells. level of LTP2 gene expression was measured over time, from 0h to 6 days after inoculation in Wangshuibai as a resistant wheat cultivar and Falat as a sensitive one. The results showed that inoculation of wheat by M. graminicola (asexual stage: Septoria tritici) cause different level of LTP2 gene expression in both resistant and susceptible cultivars over time. The pattern of gene expression indicated that LTP2 gene is an early expression gene in resistant cultivar and induced at 24h after inoculation and in sensitive cultivare the high level expression have been seen at 6 days after inoculation. Thus, according this results can be concluded that these genes, along the main genes, increase and maintain resistance to Septoria tritici blotch in wheat. In this study we cloned LTP2 genes from both cultivars and after sequencing the blast protein was studied. Blast results confirmed that these proteins contain eight cysteines that are conserved in all LTP peptides.