FIG. 5.

Properties of the CsPP2 gene and its predicted protein product. (A) Schematic representation of CsPP2 gene (GenBank accession number AF527536) with its two introns. e, exon; i, intron. (B) Alignment of CsPP2 with other PP2s: C. melo (Cmel; GenBank accession number AAM74921), C. maxima (Cmax; GenBank accession number AAA92465), C. moschata (Cmos; GenBank accession number AAF74345), and C. argirosperma (Carg; GenBank accession number AAB33116). The homologous regions between the different PP2s are shaded in purple. Green shading indicates the specific homologous blocks between PP2s from the genus Cucumis. The potential dsRBM motif within the NH₂-terminal region from CsPP2 is shown in panel C. (C) For the potential dsRBM sequence (I), the α1 and α2 helices are shown in blue; the β1, β2, and β3 sheets are represented in red; and coils are shown in grey. (II) Stability levels of the predicted secondary structure were determined by multivariate linear regression combination (SOPMA-GOR-SIMPA), with the high degree of stability (greater than 0.8) of the predicted motif being evident. (III) Residues conserved in RNA-binding motifs. Full consensus is defined as residues that are >50% conserved among all dsRBM sequences, and positive (+) consensus is defined as the residues that are >70% conserved among those structures that strongly bind dsRNA (45). The specific residues conserved in the CsPP2 potential dsRBM are shown.