Molecular Cloning and Characterization of Vacuolar H+-ATPase Subunit C Gene in Halophyte Plant, Aeluropus Littoralis

Aim and Background. In plants, ions uptake management, translocation, exchange, compartmentalization and precise adjustment of ionic ratios were carried out through the activity of a series of carriers, ion channels and transporters. The vacuolar H+-ATPase (VHA), plays a crucial role in establishing and maintaining intracellular pH gradients across specialized organellar membranes, and influences the transport of cations into the vacuoles of plant cells. Activity of this pump provides the primary proton motive force for the execution and regulation of other ion transporters, semi-transporters and H+-dependent channels in the membrane vacuoles. Due to the apparent importance of this pump in improving salt tolerance, in this study, Aeluropus littoralis a monocot halophyte was used as a gene source. Materials and Methods. A cDNA clone with complete length of 498bp contains the necessary information to encode the c subunit of V-ATPase (AlVHA-c) isolated from the A. littoralis plant and was cloned in E. coli bacterium. Results. The nucleotide sequence of the gene (AlVHA-c) showed a significant homology with its counterpart in millet, rice, wheat and maize. In addition the various bioinformatics analysis was performed to clarify the evolutionary relationships and to investigate the possible amino acid and nucleotide sequences differences. Conclusion. Finally the complete coding sequence was submitted to GenBank with accession number of (JF504672).