Bioinformatics and Expression Characteristics Analysis of Nicotine Transport Candidate Gene NtABCG6L
To predict the nicotine transport function of NtABCG6L gene obtained in earlier time which might affect nicotine content of tobacco,this study used bioinformatics method to analyze the promoter se-quence,and physicochemical properties and structure of the encoding protein of NtABCG6L.Nicotine was docked to NtABCG6L protein by software,the nicotine content and expression level of NtABCG6L gene in roots,stems and leaves of tobacco plants were determined at 0,7,14 and 21 days of topping to analyze the re-lationship between gene expression and nicotine transport efficiency.The results showed that NtABCG6L gene encoded a total of 729 amino acids.NtABCG6L protein had 81.29 kDa of molecular weight,8.97 of theoretical pI value,and structural domains ABC̠transporter-like̠ATP-bd,ABCG̠dom and ABC̠2̠trans.The secondary structure of NtABCG6L was mainly composed of α-spiral and irregular curl with a transmembrane structure.It was mainly located on cell membrane,and was predicted to be a transmembrane transporter protein.NtAB-CG6L protein could bind to nicotine through hydrogen bonding with the binding energy as-2.95.NtABCG6L gene was mainly expressed in tobacco roots with the highest level at 14 days of topping,and its expression lev-el was significantly positively correlated with the nicotine transport coefficient,which indicated that NtABCG6L gene might be involved in the transport process of nicotine.These results could provide references for further research on the function of NtABCG6L by gene editing technology.