Molecular cloning and characterization of S-adenosylmethionine synthetase gene from Lycoris radiata

S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) synthetase catalyzes the synthesis of SAM, a molecule important for all cellular organisms. It is also considered to play an important role in salt tolerance of plants. Here, we cloned a Lycoris radiata (L. radiata) SAM synthetase gene LrSAMS to determine its biological function. The gene encodes a protein of 401 amino acids with a calculated molecular weight of 43.9 kDa. Amino acid sequence analysis of the deduced protein LrSAMS reveals high sequence identity to SAM synthetases from other organisms, such as Arabidopsis thaliana and Oryza sativa. The deduced LrSAMS protein contains conserved amino acids residues and sequences motifs that closely related to the function of SAM synthetase. Otherwise, the transcript levels of LrSAMS were significantly induced by NaCl treatment in L. radiata leaves, which implied that LrSAMS might play an important role in tolerance to salt stress in L.radiata. Complete ORF of LrSAMS was inserted into expression vector pET-29a(+) and transformed into Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). The difference between the growth curve of the transgenic strain and control strain with blank vector showed that over-expressing LrSAMS could provide growth advantage to the engineered strain in high salt concentration.