In Silico Structural and Functional Insights into the Lipoxygenase Enzyme of Legume Cajanus Cajan

Lipoxygenases (LOX) are a family of enzymes known to play a key role in the plant response related to osmotic, drought and highsalinity stress. Plants contain multiple isoforms of the lipoxygenase (LOX) enzyme which differs in terms of its substrate preference, optimal pH, product formation, and stability. Till date, no study has been done to focus on the structural and functional aspect of lipoxygenase enzyme of Cajanus cajan, an important legume crop of Indian sub-continent. The present work revealed that the LOX enzyme of Cajanus cajanis a 96.65 kDa monomeric stable protein. It also contained an iron ion as a ligand in its predicted structure. Ramchandran’s analysis showed the modeled tertiary structure to be a stable one with 91.7% residues in the favoured regions. This study will be helpful to understand the structural aspects of LOX enzyme and would help future studies to enhance the expression of this enzyme in response to major abiotic (mainly salt stress) and biotic stresses. Keywords-Lipoxygenase; Cajanus cajan; homology modeling; abiotic stress. __________________________________________________*****_________________________________________________