Abstract:

A gene predominately expressed in soybean flowers was initially identified by microarray analysis. Through bioinformatics approach and RT-PCR, the full-length gene was cloned from soybean flowers. The BLAST searches indicated this gene encoded an aldehyde dehydrogenase and named as GmALDH3-1. GmALDH3-1 contains a complete open reading frame of 1485 bp which encodes a peptide of 494 amino acids. The GmALDH3-1encoding product shows 83% and 68% sequence similarity and identity with Populus tomentosa PtALDH3 and even shows 39% and 59% with human ALDH3B. The phylogenetic analysis shows that GmALDH3-1 and other ALDH2 subfamily members group into a branch and GmALDH3-1 is closest to PtALDH3 and Arabidopsis AtALDH3F1. By real-time RT-PCR, it was found that expression of GmALDH3-1 was highest in flowers, almost undetectable in leaf and root. Further we analyzed GmALDH3-1 expression during the course of seed development based on publicly available microarray data and found that GmALDH3-1 was highly expressed in the seed endothelium, epidermis, outer integument and hilum. The putative functions for GmALDH3-1 in soybean reproductive development are discussed.

Key words: soybean, aldehyde dehydrogenase, reproductive tissues, gene expression