Cloning and characterization of PR5 gene from Curcuma amada and Zingiber officinale in response to Ralstonia solanacearum infection

Ginger ( Zingiber officinale Roscoe), is an important spice crop that is badly affected by Ralstonia solanacearum wilt. Ginger does not set seed and sexual recombination has never been reported. In spite of extensive search in its habitats, no resistance source to Ralstonia induced bacterial wilt, could be located in ginger. Curcuma amada Roxb. is a potential donor for bacterial wilt resistance to Z. officinale , if the exact mechanism of resistance is understood. Pathogenesis-related (PR)-5 proteins are a family of proteins that are induced by different phytopathogens in many plants and share significant sequence similarity with thaumatin. Two putative PR5 genes, Ca PR5 and Zo PR5, were amplified from C. amada and ginger, which encode precursor proteins of 227 and 224 amino acid residues, respectively, and share high homology with a number of other PR5 genes. The secondary and three-dimensional structure comparison did not reveal any striking differences between these two proteins. The expression of Ca and Zo PR5s under R. solanacearum inoculation was analyzed at different time points using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Our results reveal that Ca PR5 is readily induced by the bacterium in C. amada , while Zo PR5 induction was very weak and slow in ginger. These results suggest that the Ca PR5 could play a role in the molecular defense response of C. amada to pathogen attack. This is the first report of the isolation of PR5 gene from the C. amada and Z. officinale . Promoter analysis indicates the presence of a silencing element binding factor in Zo PR5-promoter, but not in Ca PR5. Prospective promoter elements, such as GT-1 box and TGTCA, implicated as being positive regulatory elements for expression of PR proteins, occur in the 5′-flanking sequences of the Ca PR5. Transient GUS expression study confirms its action with a weaker GUS expression in ginger, indicating that the PR5 expression may be controlled in the promoter.