In Silico Characterization of 14 – 3 – 3 Protein Identified In Peanut (Arachis Hypogaea L.) Under Drought Stress

Peanut, an important oil and food crop frequentlyencounter drought stress which limits its productivity. Of themany proteins synthesized in response to drought, 14-3-3 proteinsare highly conserved regulatory proteins and involved in manybiological processes. In the present investigation, peptides of 14-3-3 protein isolated and sequenced from ICGV 91114 peanutcultivar were employed. The physico-chemical and secondarystructural properties indicated this protein as hydrophilic, solubleand stable. Since 3D structure of peanut 14-3-3 protein is notavailable in public domain to elucidate its regulatory role, thepresent investigation was initiated to build a homology model,using 2o98 protein of tobacco as a template and validatedthrough Ramachandran plot. A hypothesis was built on the roleof peanut 14-3-3 protein in regulating 3 other drought tolerantproteins in silico; Late Embryogenesis Abundant protein-1,Ascorbate peroxidase-1 and Calcium ion binding protein, byidentifying protein binding sites, validating and moleculardocking. The results indicated its maximum interaction withcalcium binding protein indicating its probable role in signalingother proteins in silico during drought stress.