Research Article Open Access Identification of AhAQ1 Encoding a Putative Aquaporin whose Expression is Regu- lated by Salt Stress In Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.)

The primary role of aquaporins is to control water transport in plants, which might function in plant response against salt stress. In this research, we obtained the full-length cDNA of an aquaporin gene AhAQ1 by RT-PCR approach from salt-stressed peanut leaves. AhAQ1 encodes a protein consisting of 287 amino acids with the calculated molecular mass of 30.57 kD and the isoelectric point of 9.04. Sequence analysis indicated that AhAQ1 contained six transmembrane domains and two NPA-boxes and phylogenetic analysis showed that the AhAQ1 clusters were the same with the PIP1 family. The expression pattern of AhAQ1 in peanut tissues under high-salt treatment was examined by semi-quantitative RT-PCR, The results showed that the accumulation of AhAQ1 transcripts was induced by salt stress. The combination of these results illustrate that AhAQ1 may play a role in peanut in response to salt stress. Keywords Peanut; Aquaporin; Gene cloning; Expression analysis; Salt stress