Isolation, characterization and functional annotation of the salt tolerance genes through screening the high-quality cDNA library of the halophytic green alga Dunaliella salina (Chlorophyta)

• DOI: 10.1007/s13213-014-0967-z
• Publication Date: 2014-09-12T05:55:28Z
• Authors: Junli Liu; Dongxin Zhang; Ling Hong
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; 03 medical and health sciences

Dunaliella salina (Dunal), a unicellular green alga which lacks a rigid polysaccharide cell wall, can thrive in hypersaline environments. To better understand its salt tolerance mechanism, we first constructed a high-quality cDNA library with 55 % novel genes for D. salina and then screened this library, isolating 37 unique salt tolerance genes. Eighteen of these newly isolated genes were annotated using the public databases, including a number of conventional salt tolerance genes, such as spermdine synthetase, protein disulfide isomerase, cyclophilin CYP1, F-box protein SKIP5, among others. The other 19 isolated genes were novel salt tolerance genes. Further annotation of these data may help us elucidate the salt tolerance mechanism of Dunaliella salina.