Analysis of dehydrin genes from fescue

CHED 775

Tamisha Michalewicz, st_michalewi@tarleton.edu1, Jessica Castaņeda, st_jcastaned@tarleton.edu2, Rece Laney, st_rlaney@tarleton.edu2, Jeff Brady, j-brady@tamu.edu3, and Harold Rathburn, hrathburn@tarleton.edu1. (1) Department of Biological Sciences, Tarleton State University, P. O. Box T-0100, Stephenville, TX 76402, (2) Department of Biological Sciences, Tarleton State University; Texas A&M Agricultural and Experiment Station, P. O. Box T-0100, Stephenville, TX 76402, (3) TAES, Texas A&M Agricultural and Experiment Station, 1229 North US 281, Stephenville, TX 76401
Dehydrins are a family of plant proteins that are expressed in response to various stresses, including drought. These proteins bind to and appear to protect heat labile molecules and structures. To understand the effect of drought and a changing environment upon plants, we choose to characterize dehydrin genes of an agriculturally important grass, fescue. Fescue has at least fourteen different dehydrin genes that are expressed. Fourteen pairs of DNA primers for fescue dehydrins were designed from expressed sequence tags (ESTs). The primers were used in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify portions of the dehydrin genes. DNA fragments from PCR were cloned and clones selected for DNA sequencing. Sequence data from four primer sets was collected. The analysis of this data and its relationship to published dehydrin gene sequence of fescue is presented.
 

Undergraduate Research Poster Session: Biochemistry
2:00 PM-4:00 PM, Monday, April 7, 2008 Morial Convention Center -- Hall A, Poster

Division of Chemical Education

The 235th ACS National Meeting, New Orleans, LA, April 6-10, 2008