Comparative Structural Analysis of Heavy Metal ATPases in Arabidopsis thaliana, Arabidopsis halleri, Brassica rapa, and Brassica juncea

Abstract

Arabidopsis thaliana has eight genes encoding members of the type P1B heavy metal–transporting ATPase, subfamily of the P-type ATPases. We focused our study on four ATPases, mainly HMA1, HMA2, HMA3, and HMA4, which are closely related and most similar in their sequences. We carried out the bioinformatics analysis of these metal ATPases and obtained their structure in A. thaliana, A. halleri, and the other heavy metal accumulators in Brassica spp. A. thaliana is a model plant for research because of the duplications and other evolutionary events. These evolutionary events provided a chance to elucidate their regulation and function in the cell. All previous bioinformatics analyses have given some information about their structure, but not much work has been done on their structural components and interactome analysis. Experimental determination of 3D structures is essential to understand better these proteins’ function, which is crucial for the proper functioning of all plant cellular processes. Especially, docking sites and domains need to be worked out to understand the role of these transporter proteins and their interaction in plant cells. These bioinformatic analyses will help the researcher understand these ATPases’ role in detoxifying the toxic metals from the cells of accumulator plants. Further research on gene cloning, gene expression, and generating new accumulator plants for phytoremediation is needed to reclamation polluted soils from toxic heavy metals.