Cloning and Characterization of ARF Family Gene SmARF8 in Solanum melongena L.

【Objective】Cloning of auxin response factor, SmARF8, and its expression analysis can provide a basis for molecular mechanism research of fruit development in eggplant. 【Method】 RT-PCR and RACE were used to amplify full-length cDNA sequence of SmARF8 in eggplant. The analysis of conserved domains and phylogenetic relations among the known ARFs was performed by amino acid sequence alignment method. Real-time PCR was used to analyze the expression patterns of SmARF8 in different tissues. 【Result】 Full-length cDNA sequence of this gene is 3 671 bp with an ORF of 2 676 bp in length. The results of phylogenetic analysis among ARF family genes indicated that this gene was highly homologous with the parthenocarpy-related gene ARF8 in Arabidopsis, so it was named SmARF8. The amino acid sequence analysis showed that it contained a nuclear localization signal. The DNA-binding domain was localized on N-terminal, the middle was un-conserved regulation domain with enriched in proline, serine and threonine residues, and C-terminal was the protein interaction domain. Results of the real-time PCR analysis showed that SmARF8 was detected in the roots, stems, leaves, bud flowers, flowers, anthesis, opening flowers, fruits and old fruits, and it was strongly expressed in immature fruits. 【Conclusion】 Results of this research indicate that SmARF8 is an ARF family gene in eggplant.