Polygalacturonase inhibiting protein: Isolation, developmental regulation and pathogen related expression in Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer

Polygalacturonase inhibiting proteins (PGIPs) are the major defense proteins which play an important role in resistance to infection of pathogens. A putative novel gene encoding PGIP was isolated from Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer, which shows 70.3 and 68.4% homology with chick pea and Arabidopsis PGIPs. The RACE PCR was preformed to isolate the full-length PGIP cDNA from Panax ginseng. Sequence analysis revealed that the cDNA of PgPGIP is of 1,275 bp in length and that it's containing ORF encodes for a polypeptide of 366 amino acids. Domain analysis revealed that the deduced amino acid sequences of PgPGIP have a typical PGIP topology. The transcription level of PgPGIP was up-regulated in ginseng in response to wounding and infection with phytopathogenic fungi i.e., Rhizoctonia solani, Fusarium oxysporum, Phythium ultimum, Botrytis cinerea, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides and Cylindrocarpon destructans, which causes drastic damage in ginseng plants. The constitutive PgPGIP expression of 4 years old plant, showed elevated transcript level, especially roots, showed maximum then buds, stems and leaves, indicating that the gene is developmentally regulated. The crude PGIP extracts derived from the fungal infected plants directly reduces the aggressive potential of PGs from diverse group of fungi. Like other PGIPs, PgPGIP also possess board spectrum of inhibitory activity. Thus, the presence of PgPGIP gene and their active role in defense mechanism was proved. The structural model of PgPGIP was predicted based on the alignment generated by EBI-Align, the program "MOODELLER" and the predicted structure showed 10 β-strands and 10 α-helixes region.