Molecular Cloning and Sequence Analysis of a Novel 14-3-3 (Dd-14-3-3a) Gene from Ditylenchus destructor on Sweet-potato

The potato rot nematode(Ditylenchus destructor Thorne, 1945) is a migratory endoparasite and is considered to have great economic importance worldwide by causing significant loss in production potato, sweet potato and some bulb crops. 14-3-3 proteins are highly conserved ubiquitous proteins found in all eukaryotic organisms. They are involved in various cellular processes including signal transduction, cell-cycle control, apoptosis, stress response and cytoskeleton organization. A novel 14-3-3a gene was isolated from Ditylenchus destructor by EST analysis and RACE. The full length cDNA of Dd-14-3-3a consists of 986 bp, with a 756 bp ORF encoding a 251 aa protein with the oretical molecular weight was 29.43 ku. The protein without a signal peptide of 43 amino acids on the N-terminal and two predicted 14-3-3 domains. It is a typical 14-3-3 protein, called Dd-14-3-3a(GenBank accession No.:GU198750). Phylogenic analysis suggested that Dd-14-3-3a had a homology to other plant-parasitic nematodes which may be indicative that the evolution of 14-3-3 genes from plant parasitism nematodes closed with habits. The results will help understand the roles of 14-3-3 protein during infection and nematode-plant interaction.