The Defective Kernel1 (DEK1 Case Study

The Defective Kernel1 (DEK1) is a highly conserved membrane-anchored gene which is found in most of the land plant and this gene belongs to the calpain family that plays an important role in plant body organization. This study was done by taking Physcomitrella patens as a model plant because they possess DEK1 as the dominant phytocalpain. The study was mainly focused upon the comparision of steady state level of dek1 transcripts in wild type (WT), dek1 non-expressing PpΔdek1 and dek1 overexpressing Pp35S:dek1 mutant of P. patens. Firstly the isolated total RNA from three variants were reverse transcribed to produce cDNA which were than amplified by the help of Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-qPCR). Nanodrop instrument was used for measuring the RNA concentration which was found to be very low which is 23.7ng/µl in Δdek1 variant
The name calpain is given to this family of protein because it is dependent upon the calcium ions for the protease activities which ultimately plays a vital role in plant life processes (Croall & Ersfeld, 2007). Not only in plants but calpains also play vital roles in the body organization, physiological processes and cell organization in animals (Johnson, Faulkner, Jeffree, & Ingram, 2008). Many defects may arise in mammals, nematodes and plant life processes due to the malfunctioning of the calpain proteins (Zhao et al., 2012). Being specific, the functional development of the epidermal layer in the embryo of angiosperms are under the control of DEK1 protein (Perroud et al., 2014). Plant contains a single calpain gene namely DEK1, which is present in the plant division Bryophyta (example; Physcomitrella patens) to angiosperms and gymnosperms in the plant kingdom (Zhao et al.,