Plant Thaumatin-like Proteins: Function, Evolution and Biotechnological Applications.

Area of Science:

• Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
• Plant Science
• Genomics

Background:

• Thaumatin-like proteins (TLPs) are a diverse family involved in plant defense and development.
• In angiosperms, TLPs are classified as Pathogenesis-Related-5 (PR-5) proteins.
• TLPs exhibit varied properties linked to structural diversity and are associated with biotic, drought, and osmotic stress responses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the structure, evolution, gene expression, and biotechnological potential of TLPs.
• To present a bioinformatics pipeline for TLP discovery using omics data.
• To evaluate TLP nomenclature and explore applications in plant breeding and therapeutics.

Main Methods:

• Bioinformatics annotation of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) transcriptome.
• Analysis of RNA sequencing data from root and leaf tissues under biotic and abiotic stress conditions.
• Evaluation of existing TLP nomenclature based on structure and function.

Main Results:

• Identification of 56 TLP candidates in cowpea transcriptome without using genomic sequences.
• Abiotic stress, specifically root dehydration, revealed a significant number of modulated TLP isoforms.
• The study highlights the under-exploration of TLP discovery potential from available omics data.

Conclusions:

• Plant TLPs are promising candidates for crop improvement through breeding and transformation for enhanced stress tolerance.
• TLPs hold potential for developing therapeutic drugs against human fungal pathogens.
• Current applications of TLP molecules are significantly below their realized potential.