Molecular characterisation of nerol dehydrogenase gene (PmNeDH) from Persicaria minor in response to stress-related phytohormones

Citral is a mixture of neral and geranial, which are of great interest to the fragrance industry due to its lemon-scented aroma. A newly characterized nerol dehydrogenase of Persicaria minor (PmNeDH) from our recent findings has shown a capacity to convert citral from nerol. Differential gene expression analysis revealed that the expression level of PmNeDH was highly upregulated during early treatment of several stress-related phytohormones i.e. methyl jasmonate (MeJA), salicylic acid (SA) and abscisic acid (ABA). SA and ABA were shown to have a prolonged effect on PmNeDH expression level until second day of treatment. The findings were in agreement with the cis-regulatory elements predicted from the gene promoter. The phylogenetic relationship of PmNeDH with its homologs from the medium-chain dehydrogenases/reductases (MDR) superfamily was also mentioned. In this study, we proposed a possible biological function of PmNeDH gene in P. minor, which might play significant roles in plant defence mechanism.