Preliminary Analysis Of The Functions Of The CESA Genes In Sacred Lotus(Nelumbo Nucifera)

Cellulose has a very high commercial value. It is synthesized by cellulose synthases(CESA) complex. There are abundant celluloses in Sacred lotus(Nelumbo nucifera), and the cellulose are mainly distributed in lotus petiole. The fiber silk in lotus potiole not noly contain abundant cellulose but also has plentiful hemicellulose. Most studies have fucused on the application of cellulose in lotus and examined the physical and chemical properties of the lotus fiber silk, but few studies have investigated the mechanism of cellulose synthesis at the level of molecular biology. Here, we examined the expression pattern of the C ESA genes in lotus from the RNA-seq and biochemical analyses. O ur results help to understand for the mechanism of cellulose synthesis and provide a theoretical basis for improving wood quality and the content of cellulose through translating some lotus CESA genes into trees purposively. The results are sunnarised an follows:(1) Biochemical analysis showed that the content of cellulose was higher in the internal petiole than in the external petiole. The the fiber silks in lotus potiole not noly contained abundant cellulose but also plentiful hemicellulose and some lignin.(2) RNA-seq analysis revealed the expression patterns of the genes associated with cellulose and hemicellulose systhesis. The results from Q-PCR experiment future verified the gene expressions derived from the RNA-seq analysis.(3) Result from the cladogram and q-PCR analysis indicated that genes Nnu CESA1 B, 6D, 1A, 6F, 3A, 3C, 3B and 6E could be responsible for cellulose synthesis in the primer cell wall. Genes Nnu CESA 7B, 4, 7A and 8 were necessary during the cellulose synthesis in the second cell wall. Genes Nnu CESA 6B and Nnu CESA 6A just had subsidiarity effects on the cellulose synthesis.(4) Experiments showed that genes Nnu CESA1 B,4 and 8 could functionally complemented arabidopsis mutants cesa6, cesa4 and cesa8 to some different degrees, respectively. The expressions proved that, all of these three genes had the same function as the CESA genes. Nnu CESA1 B was responsible for cellulose synthesis in the primer cell wall, while Nnu CESA4 and Nnu CESA8 were necessary during the cellulose synthesis in the second cell wall.