Protein Analysis and Expression Profiling of Rab Genes in Solanum tuberosum L. under Abiotic Stress(es)

Abstract

This study gives an insight on the protein analysis and the expression studies of Rab (Responsive to absisic acid) genes in Potato under drought stress. This protein plays a vital role in stress and development among plants and its role in Potato remains unknown. In the context of the current research, Karoda, a stress tolerant variety of Potato is used for guiding the determinative and descriptive analysis of Rab proteins through in-silico analysis and wet lab experiment. The secondary structure modeling allowed the use of bioinformatics tools to predict the folding of the Rab proteins and the level of conservation that may affect their functionality. To gain even more insight into the spatial arrangements of these proteins, tertiary structure modeling was used. This required creating 3D models of the Rab proteins, a process that was subsequently checked and verified using multiple computational techniques. To assess the intricate relationship between Rab proteins and one of the most important plant hormone, abscisic acid (ABA) in response to stress signals, protein-ligand docking was done. These docking analyses generated useful knowledge regarding the binding affinities and interaction profiles and their propensity to modulate Rab proteins in the ABA-associated pathways. Besides structural comparison, qRT-PCR was used for expression studies of Rab genes under drought stress conditions. This analysis has highlighted significant differences and upregulation in the expression profiles of the StRabA4a, StRabE1e, StRabG3c and StRabH1a genes suggesting the role of Rab genes in reaction to drought stress conditions. In conclusion, this study establishes the combination of structural bioinformatics and functional genomics to create a comprehensive picture of Rab genes and proteins in Potato. The results increase the understanding of plant stress responses and can be useful for the development of drought stress resistance in Potato plants.