Characterization of pto-like protein kinase disease resistance genes in orchid

Background and Objective: Many pathogens have been reported to cause serious problems to orchid crops. The use of the resistant plant is considered as the most economical way and environmentally friendly in disease control. This study aimed to investigate and characterize Pto genes in several orchid species for potential disease management strategies. Materials and Methods: In this research, a Pto-type disease resistance gene was detected and characterized using degenerate Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) primers in several orchid species and database mining. A fragment of ~500 bp was amplified and sequenced. The identity of Serine/Threonine Kinases (STKs) from orchid was confirmed by comparisons of DNA and amino acid sequences with the GenBank database using BLASTX and BLASTP. The multiple alignment and phylogenetic analysis were performed using the Molecular Evolutionary Genetic Analysis (MEGA) program. Results: Alignment analysis showed that the 13 orchid species have conserved motives and domains included in the Pto section and phylogenetic analysis revealed that these species belong to class VIII protein kinase superfamily of the main class of plant resistance genes. Conclusion: The present study suggested that the orchid Pto-RGCs has provided insight into the common evolutionary histories of this resistance gene in orchid that represent a valuable sequence resource for potential use in genetic mapping that could assist in the development of disease resistance.