In Silico Characterization of Proteins Containing ARID-PHD Domain and Its Expression in Aeluropus littoralis Halophyte

Abiotic stresses are the most important factors that reduce the yield of crops. In this case, Bioinformatics analysis plays an important role to study genes, and their relatedness as well as prediction their function in response to abiotic stresses. Among all domains, ARID-PHD domain has been identified in plants and animals and has a very significant role in growth regulation, cell cycle, and expression of specific genes in each tissue. In this study, we looked for the conserved sequences of the ARID family in various plant species from the NCBI database to evaluate its expression in Aeluropus littoralis. Based on the result, 10 plants that had protein containing the ARID-PHD domain were identified. Then, sequences alignment, designing phylogenetic tree, protein characterization and relative expression assessment of ARID gene in Aeluropus littoralis were done. The results showed that in addition to the similarity of amino acid sequences, proteins were divided into two groups of monocotyledons and di-cotyledons plants. Protein characteristics and structure investigation indicated a high degree of conserved sequences in proteins from different plant species. Regarding gene expression analysis, the maximum level of transcripts belongs to this gene expressed in plant aerial tissue after 6 hours of salinity stress and did not show a significant decrease until 24 hours, which probably suggested the probable role of this protein in plant tolerance to various stresses. Also, in the root, the gene expression was not significantly different from control treatment. This study was the first report to investigate protein characteristics and changing in ARID gene expression in halophyte plant (Aeluropus littoralis) under salt stress conditions and could be used as a useful reference to make plants tolerable specifically to salinity in using this gene family to modify plants to tolerate abiotic stresses especially salinity.