Cloning and environmental response of the alternative oxi-dase gene in Ulva prolifera
As the dominant species of the green tide in the Yellow Sea,Ulva prolifera has strong adaptability to adversity.Alternative oxidase(AOX)plays an important role during plant stress response.To explore the structure,function,and environmental response characteristics of AOX in U.prolifera,the rapid amplification of cDNA ends(RACE)technique was used to characterize its full-length AOX(UpAOX)and bioinformatics to analyze its sequence.Simultaneously,the differences in the expression of AOX in U.prolifera under different environments were ex-plored.The full-length cDNA of AOX was 2,441 bp,which encoded 236 amino acids.AOX protein had a typical"EXXH"and"EEE-Y"iron ion binding conserved motif.AOX was highly conserved during evolution,especially the C-terminal.AOX contained cis-acting elements related to environmental stress response,growth and develop-ment,and signal transduction.The real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR results indicated that temperature,des-iccation,salinity,and UVB stresses were significantly correlated to AOX transcription.These results provided a theoretical basis for further exploring the biological function and stress regulation mechanism of AOX in U.prolif-era.