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Scientia Silvae Sinicae ›› 2014, Vol. 50 ›› Issue (8): 108-118.doi: 10.11707/j.1001-7488.20140816

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Thymidylate Kinase Gene Polymorphism of Two Strains of Paulownia Witches’-Broom Phytoplasma

Song Chuansheng1, Hu Jiaxu2, Lin Caili1, Ren Zhengguang1, Geng Xiansheng3, Tian Guozhong1   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory of Forest Protection of State Forestry Administration Research Institute of Forest Ecology, Environment and Protection, CAF Beijing 100091;
    2. Tianjin Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau Tianjin 300457;
    3. Research Institute of Subtropical Forestry, CAF Fuyang 311400
  • Received:2014-02-17 Revised:2014-04-07 Online:2014-08-25 Published:2014-07-31
  • Contact: 田国忠

Abstract:

The diversity, variation, predicted protein function domains and evolution of thymidylate kinase gene (tmk),which was obtained by cloning DNA sequencing of PCR products with designed primer from paulownia witches'-broom phytoplasmas Pingshan strain (PaWBPs) in Hebei Province and Ji'an strain (PaWBJan) in Jiangxi Province were comparatively analyzed by DNAMAN and MEGA software. The 52 and 24 different tmk-a homologues respectively from the cloned 93 sequences of PaWBPs and 41 of PaWBJan in total were identified, whereas the tmk-b gene sequence was relatively conserved, with 99.8% similarity and only one amino acid variation of the predicted proteins between the two strains. All tmk-a ORFs were classified into tmk-a-1 (639 bp) and tmk-a-2 (627 bp). The ratio of tmk-a-1/tmk-a-2 in PaWBPs and PaWBJan was 2.5 and 3.3, respectively. Five cloned tmk-a-1 sequences of PaWBPs were the same as one in PaWBJan as well as tmk-Y of jujube witches' broom phytoplasma. In addition, PaWBPs and PaWBJan respectivety contained up to 48.1% and 41.7% of predicted tmk-a pesudogenes in total tmk-a due to the multiple locus mutation. Rich sequence variability was found in tmk-a homologues of PaWBPs and PaWBJan and there existed three functional domains in amino acid sequences of both tmk-a and b which are necessary for thymidylate kinase activity. The phylogenetic analysis showed that all the tmk-a homologues of both strains with tmk-X and Y were clustered into clade I, while tmk-b with wheat blue dwarf tmk-2 into clade Ⅲ, suggesting that tmk-b nucleotide sequences consistent with highly conserved 16S rDNA could be used for the classification of phytoplasmas on 16Sr group levels whereas diverse tmk-a might be helpful for analyzing the genetic variation and diversity of different phytoplasma strains.

Key words: paulownia witches’-broom phytoplasma, thymidylate kinase gene, pesudogene, functional domain, variation, phylogenesis

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