A functional annotation of a selected protein-coding gene in the Olimarabadopsis pumila genome: Oxysterol-binding protein-related-protein (ORP) 2B

Olimarabidopsis pumila, a spring ephemeral from Asia, is closely related to the well-studied model organism Arabidopsis thaliana, though with various important differences. O. pumila has evolved to possess various adaptations to its arid environment, including a high salt-tolerance and utilization of extreme light conditions, which A. thaliana does not have. However, O. pumila is drastically understudied, despite the advantages of using natural genetic variation and broader contexts in researching the various fields of genomic, cellular, and plant biology. In this study, we attempted to address this lack of important research by contributing to the functional annotation of the genome of O. pumila. One gene was selected and analyzed using various genomic biology softwares -- particularly GenSAS, AUGUSTUS, NCBI BLASTP and MSA Viewer, PSIPRED, AlphaFold, InterPro, STRING, DeepTMHMM, SignalP, TargetP, and WoLF PSORT -- to determine its sequence conservation, three-dimensional structure, function, and subcellular localization. The gene, located on contig tig00000022 of the O. pumila genome, was found to encode oxysterol-binding protein-related protein (ORP) 2B. We concluded this protein is involved in sterol transportation from the endoplasmic reticulum, and possibly works in contribution to the important biological processes of cell proliferation and division.