Identification, sequencing and determination of deduce protein APETALA1 (AP1) homologous gene in Brassica nigra

The transition to flowering is an important step of plant life cycle. APETALA1 geneplays a role in promoting the floral transition and also determining flower meristem identity. This study aimed to conduct primers design, extraction, identification and sequencing of this gene in Brassica nigra. Total RNA was isolated from mature flowers of Brassica nigra and used for first-strand cDNA synthesis. The specific primers were designed based on nucleotide sequence alignment of AP1 homologus genes from other plants and used in RT-PCR. The RT-PCR product were purified and sequenced. The results indicated amplification of 618 nucleotides fragment that named BniAP1 and record in NCBI database. Deduce protein obtained from sequenced fragment of AP1 consists of 206 amino acids. Comparison of the deduce protein sequence with AP1 homologous proteins from other species showed 60% to 91% identity. According to these results, BniAP1 may play a similar role as AP1 in transition to floweringand could act as a flower meristem identity gene in Brassica nigra.