Cloning and expression analysis of pistillata-like gene in Sedirea japonica

Members of the pistillata-like (PI-like) subfamily of plant MADS-box genes play multiple roles in regulation of reproductive meristems and the specification of sepal and petal identities. However, the function of PI-like genes in the Sedirea japonica is largely unknown. In this study, a full-length of PI-like gene in Sedirea japonica (designated PI-like, GenBank No. KM975642) was cloned using 5’/3’-RACE. The PI-like gene were 921 bp length with an open reading frame (ORF) of 633 bp, which encodes a protein of 210 amino acids, with a putative molecular weight of 24.5 kDa and a theoretical isoelectric point (pI) of 9.3. It also contains a 96-bp 5′ untranslated region (UTR), and a 192-bp 3′ UTR. The result of multiple sequence alignment indicated that PI-like belongs to a Class-B MADS-box gene. In addition, the phylogenetic tree analysis revealed that PI-like gene was highly like PI-like in Phalaenopsis. The qRT-PCR results revealed that the expression of PI-like gene was higher in the tissues on florescence compared to vegetative phase, suggesting that the PI-like gene of S. japonica performed important physiological functions on florescence