Characterization and Analysis of PCS1 Gene from Wheat

Wheat (Triticum aestivum) is an important cereal crop grown worldwide on large areas. Yields of wheat are decreasing worldwide due to heavy metal contamination. A number of genes have been characterized as those that confer tolerance to cadmium stress. PCS1 is one of them. Phytochelatins have a key role in the detoxification of heavy metals in plants. However, the mechanism behind the detoxification remains unknown and wheat genes related to detoxification have not yet been identified. Here we report the isolation of cDNA encoding of phytochelatin synthase (PCS) from wheat (var. Galaxy 2013). The AtPCS1 cDNA sequence contained 833 bp and encodes 277 amino acid proteins having a molecular weight of 55kDa. Multiple alignment and phylogenetic analyses were conducted by using bioinformatic tools. AtPCS1 was most related to the Hordeum vulgare PCS1 gene (AK372435.1) as they were clustered in the same clade. This gene could be helpful in making transgenic crops which will help in phytoremediation.