¹Ufa University of Science and Technology, Ufa, Russia
²Institute of Biochemistry and Genetics – Subdivision of the Ufa Federal Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Ufa, Russia
³Bashkir State Medical University, Ufa, Russia

Abstract. The trolC gene is a homologue of the rolC oncogene of Agrobacterium rhizogenes and most likely got into Nicotiana tabacum genome during horizontal gene transfer. This gene is quite conserved and is expressed in young organs, but its functions, like the agrobacterium rolC gene, remain unknown. The putative structure of the tRolC protein of Nicotiana tabacum, predicted using the I-TASSER service, was analyzed in the study. The presence of amino acid residues in the tRolC protein of the active center and binding site, as well as a protein-binding and ARTT loop, similar in structure to protein 6b of Agrobacterium vitis, indicates that they perform similar biological functions. Based on the data, a hypothesis was put forward about the presence of ADP-ribosyltransferase activity in the tRolC protein, which allows it to influence the growth and stress tolerance, as well as the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites by influencing the regulation of gene expression through interaction with transcription factors, RNA interference, or the manifestation of histone-like activity.

Key words: Agrobacterium rhizogenes, rol genes, rolC, 6b protein, ADP-ribosyltransferases, computer modeling.