Evolutionary development and functional role of plant natriuretic peptide (PNP)-B

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dc.contributor.advisorBradley, Gen
dc.contributor.authorHove, Runyararo Memoryen
dc.date.accessioned2026-08-12T23:25:33Z
dc.date.available2026-08-12T23:25:33Z
dc.date.issued2009en
dc.description.abstractPlant natriuretic peptides (PNP) are novel peptides which, like in vertebrates, have been shown to have a function associated with water and salt homeostasis. Two PNP-encoding genes have been identified and isolated from Arabidopsis thaliana, namely; AtPNP-A and AtPNP-B. In this study, the focus was on PNP-B, which has not been extensively studied. Bioinformatic analysis was done on the AtPNP-B gene. This included the bioinformatic study of its primary structure, secondary structure, tertiary structure, transcription factor binding sites (TFBS) and its relation to other known proteins. The AtPNP-B gene was shown to be a 510 bp long, including a predicted 138 bp intron. AtPNP-B was also shown to have some sequence similarity with AtPNP-A and CjBAp12. The TFBS for AtPNP-B and OsJPNP-B were compared and they comprised of TFBS that are related to water homeostasis and pathogenesis. This suggested two possible functions; water stress and homeostasis and a pathogenesis related function for PNP-B. Following bioinformatic analysis, the heterologous expression of the AtPNP-B was attempted to investigate whether the AtPNP-B gene encoded a functional protein and to determine the functional role of PNP-B. However, expression was unsuccessful. An evolutionary study was then carried out which revealed that there were some plants without the intron such as, rice, leafy spurge, oilseed rape, onion, poplar, sugar cane, sunflower and tobacco. These plants would therefore be used for expression and functional studies in the future. The evolutionary studies also revealed that PNP-B had a relationship with expansins and the endoglucanase family 45. Other PNP-B related molecules were also obtained from other plant genomes and therefore used in the construction of a phylogenetic tree. The phylogenetic tree revealed that AtPNP-B clustered in the same group as CjBAp12 while AtPNP-A had its own cluster group. There were also other PNP-B like molecules that clustered in the same group as expansins (α- and β-). Thus, we postulate that, like PNP-A, PNP-B also has a possible function in water and salt homeostasis. However, due to the clustering iii of AtPNP-B into the same group as CjBAp12, a possible role of PNP-B in pathogenesis-related response is also postulated.en
dc.format206 leaves; 30 cmen
dc.formatpdfen
dc.identifier.citationHove, Runyararo Memory. 2009en
dc.identifier.othervital:11251en
dc.identifier.otherhttp://hdl.handle.net/10353/155en
dc.identifier.otherPlant hormonesen
dc.identifier.otherPeptidesen
dc.identifier.otherPlant gene expressionen
dc.identifier.otherPeptide hormonesen
dc.identifier.otherPeptides -- Separationen
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11837/4512
dc.language.isoEnglishen
dc.publisherUniversity of Fort Hareen
dc.publisherFaculty of Science & Agricultureen
dc.rightsUniversity of Fort Hareen
dc.subjectPlant hormonesen
dc.subjectPeptidesen
dc.subjectPlant gene expressionen
dc.subjectPeptide hormonesen
dc.subjectPeptides -- Separationen
dc.titleEvolutionary development and functional role of plant natriuretic peptide (PNP)-Ben
dc.title.alternativeEvolutionary development and functional role of plant natriuretic peptide (PNP)-Ben
dc.typeThesisen
dc.typeMastersen
dc.typeMSc (Biochemistry)en

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