Identification of dehydrin markers in Capsicum annuum for development of drought tolerant crops in changing environment

Abstract

Aim: Dehydrins contribute to drought stress tolerance in plants. Identification of dehydrin markers and incorporating in plant breeding programmes is essential for improving drought tolerance. This study focus on identifying markers linked to dehydrin protein for enhancing drought tolerance in Capsicum annuum. Methodology: The publically available 1,15,000 plus EST collection of C. annuum were explored for identifying the presence of markers. A computer program has been developed to read and analyse large fragments of nucleotide sequences and for locating the microsatellite repeat motifs in the EST collections of C. annuum. The program searches for exact motifs, a string of repeated units, with all possible combinations of motif occurrences. Results: Based on conserved protein domains, several ESTs were identified with potential markers. Among them, one-third was predominated by dehydrin marker also having high sequence similarity. Three dehydrin markers found to be highly conserved and robust and was associated at high frequency with the DHN protein. Interpretation: The potential dehydrin markers are directly linked to genes that encode trait specific characteristics and are much useful in marker-assisted breeding programs for imparting drought tolerance.