**4. Acknowledgement**

234 Gene Duplication

in all examined tissues including seed. This result proposes that *CaMIPS1* and *CaMIPS2* genes are indeed differentially regulated in different organs to coordinate inositol metabolism with cellular growth as hypothesized previously (Loweus & Murthy,2000). Subsequently, expression pattern of these two genes are examined in various environmental stresses. Interestingly, *CaMIPS2* was shown to be induced at different level in various environmental stresses while level of *CaMIPS1* transcript was found to be unaltered by such stresses (Fig-7). This differential expression is also supported by the divergence of their

*CaMIPS1*

cold

*CaMIPS2*

dehydration

Fig. 7. Expression analysis of CaMIPS1 and CaMIPS2 through real time PCR analysis under

Gene duplication, followed by sequence divergence leads to functional divergence of the paralogous proteins, is a major force for adaptation of living organisms. Without gene duplication, the plasticity of genome or organism in adapting to changing environment would be very limited. Chickpea plants are know to be evolved and diversified considerably over time and acquired subsequently various potential genes for their adaptation to environmental stresses. It seems that this drought tolerant legume plant requires more inositol for their adaptation particularly under drought condition and hence acquired *CaMIPS2* over time. Collectively, our results exemplified that *CaMIPS1* and *CaMIPS2* are differentially expressed in chickpea to play discrete though overlapping roles in plant;

heat

salt

normal

various stresses. [Modified from Kaur et al., 2008]

upstream regulatory sequences.

200

0

5

10

15

Relative quantification

**3. Conclusion** 

This work was supported by a grant from Department of Biotechnology (Next Generation Challenge Programme on Chickpea Genomics), Department of Science and Technology (Fast Track Scheme) , Government of India.

We also like to acknowledge the Research support from National Institute of Plant Genome Research, New Delhi. H.K. thanks the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India, for Senior Research Fellowship.
