EXPRESSION ANALYSIS OF A GENE ENCODING A NADP-MALIC ENZYME IN COMMON WHEAT AND ITS RELATIVES

Genome duplication is a main factor accounting for duplicate genes found in most plant genomes. Polyploidy has strong effects on duplicate gene expression, including silencing of one or some of the duplicated genes. Four species Aegilops crassa, Triticum boeticum, Triticum turgidum and Triticum aestivum were used to assess the expression analysis of a gene which encodes a NADP-ME enzyme in common wheat and its related species. A pair of specific primer was designed based on the coding sequence of a gene encoding NADP-Malic enzyme in hexaploid wheat, NADP-ME1. The copy number of this gene was determined in the genomes of common wheat and its related species by semi-quantitative method. It was revealed that there is the same copy of this gene in the genomes of T. aestivum (AABBDD) and A. crassa (DDMM) and was more than T. turgidum (AABB). The copy number of the gene in T. boeticum (AA) genome was less than other three species. On the basis of these results it can be suggested that this isoform has a copy in each A, B, D genome, but M genome has two copies of that. The expression pattern of NADP-ME1 gene was also investigated in leaves of the species by semi-quantitative RT-PCR. The results showed that the expression level of the gene in each four species was almost the same and the difference was not significant. The results also showed that NADP-ME1 is expressed in leaves, stems and roots of both T. aestivum and T. turgidum.