Characterization of LcGAPC and its transcriptional response to salt and alkali stress in two ecotypes of Leymus chinensis (Trin.) Tzvelev

Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) is a housekeeping protein which plays various roles in non-metabolic processes in addition to its role in glucose catabolism. There are several GAPDH isoforms in plant cells. In this study, we cloned the full-length cDNA encoding the isoform GAPC in two ecotypes of Leymus chinensis (Trin.) Tzvelev, gray–green type and yellow–green type. The LcGAPC sequence includes an open reading frame (ORF) of 1014 bp encoding 337 amino acids. The predicted molecular weight is 36.5 kDa, and the pI is 6.19. The mRNA expression of LcGAPC decreased at 24 h and then increased significantly after 7 d after 400 mmol/L NaCl stress. At 200 mmol/L mixed alkali stress (NaHCO₃:Na₂CO₃=9:1), the LcGAPC expression level gradually increased as time increased in the two ecotypes of L. chinensis. The results suggested that LcGAPC is a stress-inducible gene that might play a role in the salt and alkali stress response. This study provided a basis to further study the mechanism of expression characteristics under salt and alkali stress conditions of L. chinensis.