A polymorphic (GA/CT)n- SSR influences promoter activity of Tryptophan decarboxylase gene in Catharanthus roseus L. Don

Simple Sequence Repeats (SSRs) of polypurine-polypyrimidine type motifs occur very frequently in the 5′ flanks of genes in plants and have recently been implicated to have a role in regulation of gene expression. In this study, 2 accessions of Catharanthus roseus having (CT)(8) and (CT)(21) varying motifs in the 5′UTR of Tryptophan decarboxylase (Tdc) gene, were investigated for its role in regulation of gene expression. Extensive Tdc gene expression analysis in the 2 accessions was carried out both at the level of transcription and translation. Transcript abundance was estimated using Northern analysis and qRT-PCR, whereas the rate of Tdc gene transcription was assessed using in-situ nuclear run-on transcription assay. Translation status of Tdc gene was monitored by quantification of polysome associated Tdc mRNA using qRT-PCR. These observations were validated through transient expression analysis using the fusion construct [CaM35S:(CT)(8–21):GUS]. Our study demonstrated that not only does the length of (CT)n -SSRs influences the promoter activity, but the presence of SSRs per se in the 5′-UTR significantly enhances the level of gene expression. We termed this phenomenon as “microsatellite mediated enhancement” (MME) of gene expression. Results presented here will provide leads for engineering plants with enhanced amounts of medicinally important alkaloids.