Cloning of XET gene from Anthocephalus chinensis and its plant expression vector construction

A full-length cDNA sequence of xyloglucan endotransglycosylase gene （XET）, abundantly expressed in the cambium of Anthocephalus chinensis was cloned by conserved PCR, rapid-amplification of cDNA ends and by chromosome walking. Analytical results of the DNA sequence show that a 912 bp complete open reading frame （ORF） encoded a 303-amino acid protein was in the 1205 bp full cDNA sequence. The deduced amino acid sequence of AcXET, which contained the conserved specific EIDFE catalytic site sequence to XETs was homologous to the other known XET proteins. In order to study the gene function of AcXET and obtain transgenic plants, a plant expression vector pBIAcXET was constructed by recombinating the AcXET fragment from the cloning vector pMD19AcXET and the binary vector pBI121 between the XbaI and SmaI sites. The fragment ofAcXET gene was inserted between the CaMV 35S promotor and the coding region of the GUS gene in pBI121. The identification results show that the plant expression binary vector pBIAcXET was constructed successfully. These results lay the foundation for studying the molecular mechanism ofAcXET gene during wood formation.

Construction of Plant Expression Vector of Heat Shock Factor Gene AtHsfA1a from Arabidopsis

[ Objective ] Heat shock factors （HSFs） are the major transcription factors of eukaryotic heat shock responses. This study aims to investigate the adversity stress tolerance functions of Arabidopsis heat shock factor AtHsfAla, which has important significance for in-depth understanding of adversity stress tolerance mechanisms of plants and further utilization of heat shock factor genes. [Method] Genomic DNA of Arabidopsis was extracted with CTAB method and purified to obtain Arabidopsis DNA samples for in vitro site-specific recombination cloning （ Gateway cloning） to construct plant expression vector of heat shock factor AtHs- fAla. Firstly, donor vector pDONR 201/AtHsfAla was constructed based on attB and attP site-specific recombination method （BP reaction）, to identify E. coli transformants harboring correct sequence of AtHsfAla by sequencing; secondly, plant expression vector pBTWG2/AttlsfAla overexpressing Arabidopsis heat shock factor AtHsfAla was constructed based on attL and attR site-specific recombination method （LR reaction）, to screen E. coli transformants harboring target plasmid. [ Result] Plant expression vector of Arabidopsis heat shock factor gene AtHsfAla was constructed successfully. [ Conclusion] This study not only provided experimental materials for acquiring transgenic plants overexpressing heat shock transcription factor AtHsfAla, but also laid the foundation for further investigation of the diversity of adversity stress tolerance functions reanlated by HSFs.

A Nimble Cloning-compatible vector system for high-throughput gene functional analysis in plants

Plant expression vectors are essential tools for gene functional analysis and molecular plant breeding.The gene of interest is transferred to the vector by molecular cloning technology.Nimble Cloning is a newly developed molecular cloning method with the advantages of simplicity,efficiency,and standardization.In this study,we developed a"pNC"vector system that contains 55 Nimble Cloning-compatible vectors for functional analysis of genes in plants.These vectors contain the NC frame flanked by unique adapters for one-step and standardized Nimble Cloning.We demonstrate that the pNC vectors are convenient and effective for the functional analysis of plant genes,including the study of gene ectopic expression,protein subcellular localization,protein-protein interaction,gene silencing(RNAi),virus-induced gene silencing,promoter activity,and CRISPR-Cas9-mediated genome editing.The"pNC"vector system represents a high-throughput toolkit that can facilitate the large-scale analysis of plant functional genomics.