Abstract:

The ATP-dependent Lon protease plays an important role in removal of the abnormal proteins and maintaining mtDNA integrity in yeast and human. In this paper, using RT-PCR and RACE techniques, a gene that encodes a product belonging to the Lon protease family was isolated from wheat. This gene, designated as TaLon1 with similarity of 94% to Lon1 in indica rice and 92% to Lon1 in maize, was predicted to encode an 886 amino acid protein. TaLon1 showed a constitutive expression pattern in wheat, which indicating its housekeeping role in wheat. It has been indirectly demonstrated that the Lon protease was probably relevant to cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) in common bean. But there was no difference in expression of TaLon1 between CMS lines with Agiolops kotschyi cytoplasm and normal lines in wheat. Unlike the lon gene in yeast and E. coli, the TaLon1 didn’t respond to heat-shock at 42℃ for 90 min. Furthermore, the expression of TaLon1 was reduced by salt treatment with 250 mmol/L NaCl for 24 h.

Key words: Lon protease, Protein degradation, Triticum aestivum L., Cytoplasimic male sterility