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Pak. J. Bot., 44: 57-69, Special Issue March 2012.

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IN SILICO IDENTIFICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF CUMULATIVE ABIOTIC STRESS RESPONDING GENES IN POTATO (SOLANUM TUBEROSUM L.)

MUHAMMAD YOUNAS KHAN BAROZAI^1* AND HUMAIRA ABDUL WAHID¹

Abstract: Potato (Solanum tuberosum) is the world's fourth largest food crop, following rice, wheat, and maize. In potato abiotic stresses commonly reduce both yield and quality. The understanding of plant responses to abiotic stresses at transcriptome level provides a foundation for the identification of stress responding genes. The cumulative abiotic stresses genes, responding to three or more than three abiotic stresses, will be a good source of candidate genes for engineering and developing the abiotic stress resistant food crops. In potato various studies have been made for the analysis of gene expression under different abiotic stress conditions, using DNA microarray technology. These available microarray data under abiotic stresses like; salt, cold, heat and drought were analyzed by applying the bioinformatic tools. Total 217 cumulative abiotic stresses responding genes were identified and characterized at different stressed stages after the study of 64896 ESTs. The abiotic stresses responsive genes were characterized on the basis of their function and validated using Arabidopsis thaliana as reference species.

Department of Botany, University of Baluchistan, Sariab Road Quetta, Pakistan

^*Corresponding author E-mail: barozaikhan@gmail.com