STM Article Repository

In plants, Iron is an important micronutrient which is required for various processes like photosynthesis, respiration and for balanced redox potential. Iron has a significant role in human nutrition. Therefore, increasing the Fe content of economical parts through conventional, Molecular and/or Transgenic breeding will have dramatic impact on human health. Therefore, this study was aimed to identify and characterize homologues of OsIRT1, OsIRT2, OsVIT1, OsYSL2, OsYSL15 and OsYSL18 in 21 different plant species. The study revealed that, a total of 51 putative Fe transporter proteins homologues were identified which could be characterized with 555 to770 amino acids sequence length with 61 to 84.8 kDa molecular weight and pI of 8.2 to 9.4 having basic nature with 9 to15 TMD with an average of 13 TMDs. The sub-cellular localization of putative Fe transporters was predicted as the plasma membrane and all the identified Fe homologues contained oligopeptide transporter (OPT) domain proteins which play a significant to role in Fe transport and homeostasis. Further, the analysis led to identification of highly conserved residues in the putative Fe sequences which could be used as potential motif signatures in identification of new Fe transporter. The interactome analysis for oryza sativa OsYSL15 transporter showed putative interaction with NAS2, NAS1, DMAS1, OsJ_32857, IRT1, IRO2, IDEF1, IRT2, IDI2 which are found to be directly involved in Fe transport from roots to grain. This study, elucidates the valuable theoretical knowledge about the Fe genes, protein features and assist in molecular manipulation of Fe transporters in various plants for developing high Fe in economical part.