Molecular identification and characterization of hevein antimicrobial peptide genes in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.)

Abstract Heveins are one of the most important groups of plant antimicrobial peptides. So far, various roles in plant growth and development and in response to biotic and abiotic stresses have reported for heveins. The present study aimed to identify and characterize the hevein genes in barley. In total, thirteen hevein genes identified in barley genome. The identified heveins showed a high similarity with heveins from other plant species in terms of structural and functional characteristics. The hevein coding sequences produced open reading frames (ORFs) ranged from 342 to 1002 bp. Most of the identified hevein genes were intronless, and the others had only one intron. The hevein ORFs produced proteins ranged from 113 to 333 amino acids. Search for conserved functional domains showed ChtBD1 and Lyz-like domains in barley heveins. All barley heveins comprised extracellular signal peptides ranged from 19 to 35 amino acids. The phylogenetic analysis divided barley heveins into two groups. The promoter analysis identified cis-acting elements related to growth and development, hormone response, and environmental stresses in the promoter of barley hevein genes. The expression analysis showed high expression level of heveins in root and reproductive organs of barley. The expression analysis also showed that barley heveins is induced by both biotic and abiotic stresses. The results of antimicrobial activity prediction showed the highest antimicrobial activity in ChtBD1 domain of barley heveins. The findings of the current study can improve our knowledge about the role of hevein genes in plant and can be used for future studies.