Genome wide identification of calcium dependent protein kinase and related kinase gene families in Solanum melongena L.

In plants, Calcium-Dependent Protein Kinases (CDPKs) play multiple roles with a variety of functions inphysiological processes, biotic and abiotic stress together with plant hormone signalling. We conducted agenome-wide analysis of CDPK gene family in eggplant. Total 28 CDPKs and 2 CDPK-related kinases (CRKs)genes were identified in eggplant genome. Structural organisation of Solanum melongena CDPKs and CRK genes as well as different conserved domains and motifs were studied. Both SmeCDPKs and SmeCRK proteinsharbour STKc_CAMK type protein kinase domain, while only SmeCDPKs contained EF-hand type Ca²⁺ bindingdomain(s). Phylogenetic analysis suggested the conserved basic structure of SmeCDPKs and classified into four clades. The amino acid residue patterns of sub-domains including the conserved EF hands were identifiedfor SmeCDPKs. An elaborate search of eggplant ESTs available in public domain shows presence of SmeCDPK in different tissue specific libraries and most of them were expressed in mixture of flower bud, young fruit, leafand ovary tissues. SmeCDPK 28/18 and 34 were specific to ovary and stamen libraries, respectively. Further, expression of SmeCDPKs was checked making use of eggplant transcriptome available in public domain. Theinformation generated will significantly imparts the basic step for further functional study of CDPKs gene familyin eggplant.