Evidence of a sirtuin gene family in grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.).

Sirtuins are known as regulators of age-dependent gene transcription and chromatin modification in yeast and in animals, but information about their occurrence and role in plants is scarce. Sirtuin-like sequences were amplified using two highly degenerate primers designed comparing sirtuin sequences of seven different plant species, and characterised at the sequence level in Vitis vinifera L. cv. Barbera clone R4. The data were confirmed and analysed by searching the published database from two independent grape genome projects with the obtained sequences. Two putative sirtuin genes containing sirtuin-conserved domains were found on chromosome 7 and on chromosome 19, suggesting the occurrence of sirtuins in grapevine.