Cloning And Sequence Analysis Of AGO1Gene In Panax Ginseng

Argonaute1(AGO1) is a core component of the RNA-inducedsilencing complex (RISC) which plays a crucial role in smallRNA-mediated gene silencing. AGO1gene has been characterized invarious plants, such as Arabidopsis and rice; However, there is noinformation about AGO1in the medicinal plant species, Panaxginseng. Using the Rapid Amplification of cDNA Ends technology(RACE), we cloned full-length PgAGO1cDNA from Panax ginseng. It is3776bp in length, including204bp of5’ UTR,254bp of3’ UTR, and3309bp of ORF encoding1103amino acids. The molecular weight(MW) and theroretical isoelectric point (pI) of the deduced PgAGO1protein is122.22kDa and9.71, respectively. PgAGO1shares91.72%similarity with Arabidopsis AtAGO1and contains three consereddomains, including DUF1785, PAZ and Piwi, suggesting it is anauthentic AGO. PgAGO1was expressed in all of the tissues analyzedwith the highest level in flowers and the lowest level in roots. Theresults provide useful information for further elucidating the function of AGO1in Panax ginseng.