scholarly journals The evolutionary history of the sucrose synthase gene family in higher plants

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoyang Xu ◽  
Yongheng Yang ◽  
Chunxiao Liu ◽  
Yuming Sun ◽  
Ting Zhang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Sucrose synthase (SUS) is widely considered a key enzyme participating in sucrose metabolism in higher plants and regarded as a biochemical marker for sink strength in crops. However, despite significant progress in characterizing the physiological functions of the SUS gene family, knowledge of the trajectory of evolutionary processes and significance of the family in higher plants remains incomplete. Results In this study, we identified over 100 SUS genes in 19 plant species and reconstructed their phylogenies, presenting a potential framework of SUS gene family evolution in higher plants. Three anciently diverged SUS gene subfamilies (SUS I, II and III) were distinguished based on their phylogenetic relationships and unique intron/exon structures in angiosperms, and they were found to have evolved independently in monocots and dicots. Each subfamily of SUS genes exhibited distinct expression patterns in a wide range of plants, implying that their functional differentiation occurred before the divergence of monocots and dicots. Furthermore, SUS III genes evolved under relaxed purifying selection in dicots and displayed narrowed expression profiles. In addition, for all three subfamilies of SUS genes, the GT-B domain was more conserved than the “regulatory” domain. Conclusions The present study reveals the evolution of the SUS gene family in higher plants and provides new insights into the evolutionary conservation and functional divergence of angiosperm SUS genes.

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhixuan Du ◽  
Qitao Su ◽  
Zheng Wu ◽  
Zhou Huang ◽  
Jianzhong Bao ◽  
...  

AbstractMultidrug and toxic compound extrusion (MATE) proteins are involved in many physiological functions of plant growth and development. Although an increasing number of MATE proteins have been identified, the understanding of MATE proteins is still very limited in rice. In this study, 46 MATE proteins were identified from the rice (Oryza sativa) genome by homology searches and domain prediction. The rice MATE family was divided into four subfamilies based on the phylogenetic tree. Tandem repeats and fragment replication contribute to the expansion of the rice MATE gene family. Gene structure and cis-regulatory elements reveal the potential functions of MATE genes. Analysis of gene expression showed that most of MATE genes were constitutively expressed and the expression patterns of genes in different tissues were analyzed using RNA-seq. Furthermore, qRT-PCR-based analysis showed differential expression patterns in response to salt and drought stress. The analysis results of this study provide comprehensive information on the MATE gene family in rice and will aid in understanding the functional divergence of MATE genes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 677-696
Author(s):  
Zhi-Gang Dong ◽  
Hui Liu ◽  
Xiao-Long Wang ◽  
Jun Tang ◽  
Kai-Kai Zhu ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND: Grapevine was one of the most important perennial fruit crops worldwide. Acyl-CoA-binding proteins (ACBPs) in eudicots and monocots show conservation in an acyl-CoA-binding domain (ACB domain) which binds acyl-CoA esters. OBJECTIVE: The information and data provided in the present study contributes to understand the evolutionary processes and potential functions of this gene family in grapevine growth and development, and responses to abiotic stress. METHODS: Using the complete grapevine genome sequences, we investigated the number grapevine ACBP genes, the exon-intron structure, phylogenetic relationships and synteny with the Arabidopsis ACBP gene family. Furthermore, the expression profiles of VvACBP genes based on public microarray data in different tissues, and the expression patterns responding to different exogenous hormones as well as abiotic and biotic stresses were presented. The qRT-PCR was used to verify the microarray data under drought stress treatments. Finally, the leaf relative water content (RWC), leaf chlorophyll content, and enzymatic activities were measured to further examine the tolerance to drought stress in grapevine. RESULTS: The six grapevine ACBPs were identified. Their distribution into various groups differed from Arabidopsis and rice. Synteny analysis demonstrated that several VvACBP genes were found in corresponding syntenic blocks of Arabidopsis, suggesting that these genes arose before the divergence of the respective lineages. Sequence alignment and structural annotation provided an overview of variations that might contribute to functional divergence from Arabidopsis ACBPs. Expressional analyses suggested that both conserved and variant biological functions exist in ACBPs across different species. The expression pattern of these genes were similar in the microarray and qRT-PCR analyses. Gene structure organization and expression characteristics of VvACBPs resembled those of their Arabidopsis orthologous, although species-specific differences also exist. Differential regulation of genes suggested functional diversification among isoforms. The biochemical and physiological data showed the tolerance to drought stress of grapevine. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provided insight into evolution of ACBP gene family in plants and a solid foundation for a deeper understanding of the complex molecular responses of grapevine to stress.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhixuan Du ◽  
Qitao Su ◽  
Zheng Wu ◽  
Zhou Huang ◽  
Jianzhong Bao ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Multidrug and toxic compound extrusion (MATE) proteins are involved in many physiological functions of plant growth and development. Although an increasing number of MATE proteins have been identified, the understanding of MATE proteins is still very limited in rice.Results: In this study, 46 MATE proteins were identified from the rice (Oryza sativa) genome by homology searches and domain prediction. In addition, physical and chemical properties of the encoded proteins, subcellular localization, chromosome localization, stress-related cis-elements in abiotic stresses were determined, and a phylogenetic analysis and conserved motif analysis were performed. The rice MATE family can be divided into four subfamilies. It is speculated that members of the rice MATE family have many potential functions, such as the transport and accumulation of flavonoids and alkaloids, the extrusion of plant or exogenous compounds, the regulation of disease resistance and the response to abiotic stress, based on the proteins and cis-acting elements with known functions in the same subfamily. Analysis of gene expression showed that most of the genes were constitutively expressed. Furthermore, eight MATE genes were chosen for qRT-PCR-based analysis and showed differential expression patterns in response to salt and drought stress. Conclusions: Phylogenetic analysis, element prediction, expression data and homology with other species provided strong evidence for functional homology of MATE gene in rice. The analysis results of this study provide comprehensive information on the MATE gene family in rice and will aid in understanding the functional divergence of MATE genes.


PeerJ ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. e6682 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mengyao Li ◽  
Bo Sun ◽  
Fangjie Xie ◽  
Ronggao Gong ◽  
Ya Luo ◽  
...  

GRAS transcription factors are known to play important roles in plant signal transduction and development. A comprehensive study was conducted to explore the GRAS family in the Brassica juncea genome. A total of 88 GRAS genes were identified which were categorized into nine groups according to the phylogenetic analysis. Gene structure analysis showed a high group-specificity, which corroborated the gene grouping results. The chromosome distribution and sequence analysis suggested that gene duplication events are vital for the expansion of GRAS genes in the B. juncea genome. The changes in evolution rates and amino acid properties among groups might be responsible for their functional divergence. Interaction networks and cis-regulatory elements were analyzed including DELLA and eight interaction proteins (including four GID1, two SLY1, and two PIF3 proteins) that are primarily involved in light and hormone signaling. To understand their regulatory role in growth and development, the expression profiles of BjuGRASs and interaction genes were examined based on transcriptome data and qRT-PCR, and selected genes (BjuGRAS3, 5, 7, 8, 10, BjuB006276, BjuB037910, and BjuA021658) had distinct temporal expression patterns during stem swelling, indicating that they possessed diverse regulatory functions during the developmental process. These results contribute to our understanding on the GRAS gene family and provide the basis for further investigations on the evolution and functional characterization of GRAS genes.


PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e10878
Author(s):  
Mengyao Li ◽  
Qi He ◽  
Ying Huang ◽  
Ya Luo ◽  
Yong Zhang ◽  
...  

Sucrose synthase (SUS) plays an important role in sucrose metabolism and plant development. The SUS gene family has been identified in many plants, however, there is no definitive study of SUS gene in Brassica juncea. In this study, 14 SUS family genes were identified and comprehensively analyzed using bioinformatics tools. The analyzed parameters included their family member characteristics, chromosomal locations, gene structures and phylogenetic as well as transcript expression profiles. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the 14 members could be allocated into three groups: SUS I, SUS II and SUS III. Comparisons of the exon/intron structure of the mustard SUS gene indicated that its structure is highly conserved. The conserved structure is attributed to purification selection during evolution. Expansion of the SUS gene family is associated with fragment and tandem duplications of the mustard SUS gene family. Collinearity analysis among species revealed that the SUS gene family could be lost or mutated to varying degrees after the genome was doubled, or when Brassica rapa and Brassica nigra hybridized to form Brassica juncea. The expression patterns of BjuSUSs vary among different stages of mustard stem swelling. Transcriptomics revealed that the BjuSUS01-04 expression levels were the most elevated. It has been hypothesized that they play an important role in sucrose metabolism during stem development. The expression levels of some BjuSUSs were significantly up-regulated when they were treated with plant hormones. However, when subjected to abiotic stress factors, their expression levels were suppressed. This study establishes SUS gene functions during mustard stem development and stress.


PeerJ ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. e12814
Author(s):  
Longbo Liu ◽  
Jie Zheng

Background Sucrose synthase (SUS, EC 2.4.1.13) is one of the major enzymes of sucrose metabolism in higher plants. It has been associated with C allocation, biomass accumulation, and sink strength. The SUS gene families have been broadly explored and characterized in a number of plants. The pomegranate (Punica granatum) genome is known, however, it lacks a comprehensive study on its SUS genes family. Methods PgSUS genes were identified from the pomegranate genome using a genome-wide search method. The PgSUS gene family was comprehensively analyzed by physicochemical properties, evolutionary relationship, gene structure, conserved motifs and domains, protein structure, syntenic relationships, and cis-acting elements using bioinformatics methods. The expression pattern of the PgSUS gene in different organs and fruit development stages were assayed with RNA-seq obtained from the NCBI SRA database as well as real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Results Five pomegranate SUS genes, located on four different chromosomes, were divided into three subgroupsaccording to the classification of other seven species. The PgSUS family was found to be highly conserved during evolution after studying the gene structure, motifs, and domain analysis. Furthermore, the predicted PgSUS proteins showed similar secondary and tertiary structures. Syntenic analysis demonstrated that four PgSUS genes showed syntenic relationships with four species, with the exception of PgSUS2. Predictive promoter analysis indicated that PgSUS genes may be responsive to light, hormone signaling, and stress stimulation. RNA-seq analysis revealed that PgSUS1/3/4 were highly expressed in sink organs, including the root, flower, and fruit, and particularly in the outer seed coats. qPCR analysis showed also that PgSUS1, PgSUS3, and PgSUS4 were remarkably expressed during fruit seed coat development. Our results provide a systematic overview of the PgSUS gene family in pomegranate, developing the framework for further research and use of functional PgSUS genes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaomin Feng ◽  
Yongjun Wang ◽  
Nannan Zhang ◽  
Shuai Gao ◽  
Jiayun Wu ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The identification and functional analysis of genes that improve tolerance to low potassium stress in S. spontaneum is crucial for breeding sugarcane cultivars with efficient potassium utilization. Calcineurin B-like (CBL) protein is a calcium sensor that interacts with specific CBL-interacting protein kinases (CIPKs) upon plants’ exposure to various abiotic stresses. Results In this study, nine CBL genes were identified from S. spontaneum. Phylogenetic analysis of 113 CBLs from 13 representative plants showed gene expansion and strong purifying selection in the CBL family. Analysis of CBL expression patterns revealed that SsCBL01 was the most commonly expressed gene in various tissues at different developmental stages. Expression analysis of SsCBLs under low K+ stress indicated that potassium deficiency moderately altered the transcription of SsCBLs. Subcellular localization showed that SsCBL01 is a plasma membrane protein and heterologous expression in yeast suggested that, while SsCBL01 alone could not absorb K+, it positively regulated K+ absorption mediated by the potassium transporter SsHAK1. Conclusions This study provided insights into the evolution of the CBL gene family and preliminarily demonstrated that the plasma membrane protein SsCBL01 was involved in the response to low K+ stress in S. spontaneum.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (19) ◽  
pp. 10722
Author(s):  
Lu Lu ◽  
Quancan Hou ◽  
Linlin Wang ◽  
Tianye Zhang ◽  
Wei Zhao ◽  
...  

Polygalacturonase (PG, EC 3.2.1.15) is a crucial enzyme for pectin degradation and is involved in various developmental processes such as fruit ripening, pollen development, cell expansion, and organ abscission. However, information on the PG gene family in the maize (Zea mays L.) genome and the specific members involved in maize anther development are still lacking. In this study, we identified 55 PG family genes from the maize genome and further characterized their evolutionary relationship and expression patterns. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that ZmPGs are grouped into six Clades, and gene structures of the same Clade are highly conserved, suggesting their functional conservation. The ZmPGs are randomly distributed across maize chromosomes, and collinearity analysis showed that many ZmPGs might be derived from tandem duplications and segmental duplications, and these genes are under purifying selection. Furthermore, gene expression analysis provided insights into possible functional divergence among ZmPGs. Based on the RNA-seq data analysis, we found that many ZmPGs are expressed in various tissues while 18 ZmPGs are highly expressed in maize anther, and their detailed expression profiles in different anther developmental stages were further investigated by using RT-qPCR analysis. These results provide valuable information for further functional characterization and application of the ZmPGs in maize.


Genes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 980
Author(s):  
Hua Zhong ◽  
Hongyu Zhang ◽  
Rong Guo ◽  
Qiang Wang ◽  
Xiaoping Huang ◽  
...  

The domain of unknown function (DUF) superfamily encodes proteins of unknown functions in plants. Among them, DUF668 family members in plants possess a 29 amino-acid conserved domain, and this family has not been described previously. Here, we report this plant-specific novel DUF668 gene family containing 12 OsDUF668 genes in rice (Oryza sativa) and 91 DUF668s for the other seven plant species. In our study, DUF668 genes were present in both dicot and monocot plants, indicating that DUF668 is a conserved gene family that originated by predating the dicot–monocot divergence. Based on the gene structure and motif composition, the DUF668 family consists of two distinct clades, I and II in the phylogenetic tree. Remarkably, OsDUF668 genes clustered on the chromosomes merely show close phylogenetic relationships, suggesting that gene duplications or collinearity seldom happened. Cis-elements prediction display that over 80% of DUF668s contain phytohormone and light responsiveness factors. Further comprehensive experimental analyses of the OsDUF668 family are implemented in 22 different tissues, five hormone treatments, seven environmental factor stresses, and two pathogen-defense related stresses. The OsDUF668 genes express ubiquitously in analyzed rice tissues, and seven genes show tissue-specific high expression profiles. All OsDUF668s respond to drought, and some of Avr9/Cf-9 rapidly elicited genes resist to salt, wound, and rice blast with rapidly altered expression patterns. These findings imply that OsDUF668 is essential for drought-enduring and plant defense. Together, our results bring the important role of the DUF668 gene family in rice development and fitness to the fore.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruizheng Tian ◽  
Yang Yang ◽  
Maohua Chen

Abstract Background: Amino acid transporters (AATs), which transport amino acids across cellular membranes, play important roles in alleviating plant damage under stresses as well as in plant growth and development. Although this family has been systematically studied in many plant species, little is known about the AAT genes in bread wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) due to its complex genome sequence. Results: In this study, a total of 296 AAT genes were identified from the latest wheat genome sequence (IWGSC v1.1) and classified into twelve distinct subfamilies based upon their sequence composition and phylogenetic relationship. Wheat AAT family members showed significant heterogeneity in chromosome distribution, with relatively high density in specific chromosomal regions. Comparison the number variation of gene copies and transmembrane regions of AAT genes in different sub-genome showed that the functional adaptation of the wheat AAT family during wheat polyploidization was driven mainly by sequence mutations rather than copy number variation. In addition, it was confirmed that changes in gene structure and protein conserved domains played important roles in the functional differentiation of the AAT family. Finally, the expression profiles of these TaAAT genes under heat, drought and salt stress and in the development stage of wheat showed that the expression of TaAATs exhibited abundant and distinct expression patterns under different abiotic stresses or in different tissues, and several important candidate AAT genes that may affect abiotic stress response and grain quality were also identified. Conclusions : In this study, a total of 297 AAT proteins were systematically identified and characterized. Our study highlighted the important roles of gene duplication events in the expansion and functional differentiation of the wheat AAT family. The expression profiles of TaAATs revealed their importance for the grain development of wheat and their response to biotic and abiotic stresses. Our study also provided a theoretical basis for the further functional identification and utilization of the AAT gene family in wheat or other crops.


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