scholarly journals Genome-Wide Identification of Triticum aestivum Xylanase Inhibitor Gene Family and Inhibitory Effects of XI-2 Subfamily Proteins on Fusarium graminearum GH11 Xylanase

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Liu ◽  
Nannan Han ◽  
Sheng Wang ◽  
Can Chen ◽  
Jie Lu ◽  
...  

Triticum aestivum xylanase inhibitor (TaXI) gene plays an important role in plant defense. Recently, TaXI–III inhibitor has been shown to play a dual role in wheat resistance to Fusarium graminearum infection. Thus, identifying the members of the TaXI gene family and clarifying its role in wheat resistance to stresses are essential for wheat resistance breeding. However, to date, no comprehensive research on TaXIs in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) has been conducted. In this study, a total of 277 TaXI genes, including six genes that we cloned, were identified from the recently released wheat genome database (IWGSC RefSeq v1.1), which were unevenly located on 21 chromosomes of wheat. Phylogenetic analysis divided these genes into six subfamilies, all the six genes we cloned belonged to XI-2 subfamily. The exon/intron structure of most TaXI genes and the conserved motifs of proteins in the same subfamily are similar. The TaXI gene family contains 92 homologous gene pairs or clusters, 63 and 193 genes were identified as tandem replication and segmentally duplicated genes, respectively. Analysis of the cis-acting elements in the promoter of TaXI genes showed that they are involved in wheat growth, hormone-mediated signal transduction, and response to biotic and abiotic stresses. RNA-seq data analysis revealed that TaXI genes exhibited expression preference or specificity in different organs and developmental stages, as well as in diverse stress responses, which can be regulated or induced by a variety of plant hormones and stresses. In addition, the qRT-PCR data and heterologous expression analysis of six TaXI genes revealed that the genes of XI-2 subfamily have double inhibitory effect on GH11 xylanase of F. graminearum, suggesting their potential important roles in wheat resistance to F. graminearum infection. The outcomes of this study not only enhance our understanding of the TaXI gene family in wheat, but also help us to screen more candidate genes for further exploring resistance mechanism in wheat.

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e9225
Author(s):  
Yaoyao Jiang ◽  
Haichao Hu ◽  
Yuhua Ma ◽  
Junliang Zhou

Background The fibrillin (FBN) gene family is highly conserved and widely distributed in the photosynthetic organs of plants. Members of this gene family are involved in the growth and development of plants and their response to biotic and abiotic stresses. Wheat (Triticum aestivum), an important food crop, has a complex genetic background and little progress has occurred in the understanding of its molecular mechanisms. Methods In this study, we identified 26 FBN genes in the whole genome of T. aestivum through bioinformatic tools and biotechnological means. These genes were divided into 11 subgroups and were distributed on 11 chromosomes of T. aestivum. Interestingly, most of the TaFBN genes were located on the chromosomes 2A, 2B and 2D. The gene structure of each subgroup of gene family members and the position and number of motifs were highly similar. Results The evolutionary analysis results indicated that the affinities of FBNs in monocots were closer together. The tissue-specific analysis revealed that TaFBN genes were expressed in different tissues and developmental stages. In addition, some TaFBNs were involved in one or more biotic and abiotic stress responses. These results provide a basis for further study of the biological function of FBNs.


Agronomy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 670 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dong ◽  
Jiang ◽  
Yang ◽  
Xiao ◽  
Bai ◽  
...  

The NAC gene family is one of the largest families of transcriptional regulators in plants, and it plays important roles in the regulation of growth and development as well as in stress responses. Genome-wide analyses have been performed in diverse plant species, but there is still no systematic analysis of the NAC genes of Coffea canephora Pierre ex A. Froehner. In this study, we identified 63 NAC genes from the genome of C. canephora. The basic features and comparison analysis indicated that the NAC gene members increased via duplication events during the evolution of the plant. Phylogenetic analysis divided the NAC proteins from C. canephora, Arabidopsis and rice into 16 subgroups. Analysis of the expression patterns of CocNACs under cold stress and coffee bean development indicated that 38 CocNACs were differentially expressed under cold stress; six genes may play important roles in the process of cold acclimation, and four genes among 54 CocNACs showing a variety of expression patterns during different developmental stages of coffee beans may be positively related to the bean development. This study can expand our understanding of the functions of the CocNAC gene family in cold responses and bean development, thereby potentially intensifying the molecular breeding programs of Coffea spp. plants.


2019 ◽  
Vol 99 (5) ◽  
pp. 577-588
Author(s):  
Xiaoxuan Xu ◽  
Bowei Yan ◽  
Ying Zhao ◽  
Feng Wang ◽  
Xunchao Zhao ◽  
...  

Glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase (GPAT) catalyzes the initial step of glycerolipids biosynthesis and contributes to oil production, membrane stabilization, and stress responses in plants. In major field crops, little information on the GPAT gene family and their potential stress-related functions were available. In this study, 15 GPAT gene family members were identified from the maize genome and designated as ZmGPAT1–ZmGPAT14 and ZMS1. The ZmGPAT proteins contained 371–557 amino acids and had a molecular weight between 42.7 and 61.2 kDa. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that ZmGPATs fell into four clusters. All 15 ZmGPAT proteins possessed conserved PlsC/LPLAT (phosphate acyltransferases/lysophospholipid acyltransferases) domains and featured multiple acyltransferase motifs. The expression profiles of ZmGPAT genes were different in various tissues of maize and the elevated expression of several ZmGPAT genes occurred at early seed developmental stages. In response to environmental stresses, differential expression of ZmGPATs had been observed, highlighted by the significant induction of transcripts accumulation of some ZmGPATs under cold treatment. This study will help to better understand the potential roles of GPAT in oil production and development and abiotic stress responses in field crops.


Genome ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 121-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhirong Wei ◽  
Jiehua Wang ◽  
Shaohui Yang ◽  
Yingjin Song

As the largest subfamily of receptor-like kinases (RLKs), leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinases (LRR-RLKs) regulate the growth, development, and stress responses of plants. Through a reiterative process of sequence analysis and re-annotation, 234 LRR-RLK genes were identified in the genome of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) ‘Heinz 1706’, which were further grouped into 10 major groups based on their sequence similarity. In comparison to the significant role of tandem duplication in the expansion process of this gene family in other species, only approximately 12% (29 out of 234) of SlLRR-RLK genes arose from tandem duplication. Using the multiple expectation maximization for motif elicitation (MEME) method, the motif composition and arrangement were found to be variably conserved within each SlLRR-RLK group, indicating their different extent of functional divergence. Expression profiling analyses by qRT-PCR data revealed that SlLRR-RLK genes were differentially expressed in various tomato organs and tissues, and some SlLRR-RLK genes exhibited preferential expression in fruits at distinct developmental stages, suggesting that SlLRR-RLK may take important roles in fruit development and ripening process. The results of this study provide an overview of the LRR-RLK gene family in tomato Heinz 1706, one important species of Solanaceae, and will be helpful for future functional analysis of this important protein family in fleshy fruit-bearing species.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yucong Xie ◽  
Karl Ravet ◽  
Stephen Pearce

Abstract Background Bowman-Birk inhibitors (BBI) are a family of serine-type protease inhibitors that modulate endogenous plant proteolytic activities during different phases of development. They also inhibit exogenous proteases as a component of plant defense mechanisms, and their overexpression can confer resistance to phytophagous herbivores and multiple fungal and bacterial pathogens. Dicot BBIs are multifunctional, with a “double-headed” structure containing two separate inhibitory loops that can bind and inhibit trypsin and chymotrypsin proteases simultaneously. By contrast, monocot BBIs have a non-functional chymotrypsin inhibitory loop, although they have undergone internal duplication events giving rise to proteins with multiple BBI domains.Results We used a Hidden Markov Model (HMM) profile-based search to identify 57 BBI genes in the common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genome. The BBI genes are unevenly distributed, with large gene clusters in the telomeric regions of homeologous group 1 and 3 chromosomes that likely arose through a series of tandem gene duplication events. The genomes of wheat progenitors also contain contiguous clusters of BBI genes, suggesting this family underwent expansion before the domestication of common wheat. However, the BBI gene family varied in size among different cultivars, showing this family remains dynamic. Because of these expansions, the BBI gene family is larger in wheat than other monocots such as maize, rice and Brachypodium.We found BBI proteins in common wheat with intragenic homologous duplications of cysteine-rich functional domains, including one protein with four functional BBI domains. This diversification may expand the spectrum of target substrates. Expression profiling suggests that some wheat BBI proteins may be involved in regulating endogenous proteases during grain development, while others were induced in response to biotic and abiotic stresses, suggesting a role in plant defense.Conclusions Genome-wide characterization reveals that the BBI gene family in wheat is subject to a high rate of homologous tandem duplication and deletion events, giving rise to a diverse set of encoded proteins. This information will facilitate the functional characterization of individual wheat BBI genes to determine their role in wheat development and stress responses and their potential application in breeding.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanhui Liu ◽  
Mengnan Chai ◽  
Man Zhang ◽  
Qing He ◽  
Zhenxia Su ◽  
...  

This study identified 57 basic leucine zipper (bZIP) genes from the pineapple genome, and the analysis of these bZIP genes was focused on the evolution and divergence after multiple duplication events in relation to the pineapple genome fusion. According to bioinformatics analysis of a phylogenetic tree, the bZIP gene family was divided into 11 subgroups in pineapple, Arabidopsis, and rice; gene structure and conserved motif analyses showed that bZIP genes within the same subgroup shared similar intron-exon organizations and motif composition. Further synteny analysis showed 17 segmental duplication events with 27 bZIP genes. The study also analyzed the pineapple gene expression of bZIP genes in different tissues, organs, and developmental stages, as well as in abiotic stress responses. The RNA-sequencing data showed that AcobZIP57 was upregulated in all tissues, including vegetative and reproductive tissues. AcobZIP28 and AcobZIP43 together with the other 25 bZIP genes did not show high expression levels in any tissue. Six bZIP genes were exposed to abiotic stress, and the relative expression levels were detected by quantitative real-time PCR. A significant response was observed for AcobZIP24 against all kinds of abiotic stresses at 24 and 48 h in pineapple root tissues. Our study provides a perspective for the evolutionary history and general biological involvement of the bZIP gene family of pineapple, which laid the foundation for future functional characterization of the bZIP genes in pineapple.


Agronomy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 1189
Author(s):  
Zeeshan Ali Buttar ◽  
Yuan Yang ◽  
Rahat Sharif ◽  
Sheng Nan Wu ◽  
Yanzhou Xie ◽  
...  

The small YABBY plant-specific transcription factor has a prominent role in regulating plant growth and developmental activities. However, little information is available about YABBY gene family in Triticum aestivum L. Herein, we identified 21 TaYABBY genes in the Wheat genome database. Then, we performed the conserved motif and domain analysis of TaYABBY proteins. The phylogeny of the TaYABBY was further sub-divided into 6 subfamilies (YABBY1/YABBY3, YABB2, YABBY5, CRC and INO) based on the structural similarities and functional diversities. The GO (Gene ontology) analysis of TaYABBY proteins showed that they are involved in numerous developmental processes and showed response against environmental stresses. The analysis of all identified genes in RNA-seq data showed that they are expressed in different tissues of wheat. Differential expression patterns were observed in not only control samples but also in stressed samples such as biotic stress (i.e., Fusarium graminearum (F.g), septoria tritici (STB), Stripe rust (Sr) and Powdery mildew (Pm), and abiotic stress (i.e., drought, heat, combined drought and heat and phosphorus deficiency), especially at different grain development stages. All identified TaYABBY-genes were localized in the nucleus which implies their participation in the regulatory mechanisms of various biological and cellular processes. In light of the above-mentioned outcomes, it has been deduced that TaYABBY-genes in the wheat genome play an important role in mediating various development, growth, and resistance mechanism, which could provide significant clues for future functional studies.


Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 521
Author(s):  
Junjun Zheng ◽  
Ziling Zhang ◽  
Tao Tong ◽  
Yunxia Fang ◽  
Xian Zhang ◽  
...  

The WRKY gene family consists of transcription factors that are widely distributed in plants and play a key role in plant growth and development, secondary metabolite synthesis, biotic and abiotic stress responses, and other biological processes. In this study, 86 WRKY proteins were identified from the barley genome database using bioinformatics and were found to be distributed unevenly on seven chromosomes. According to the structure and phylogenetic relationships, the proteins could be classified into three groups and seven subgroups. The multiple sequence alignment results showed that WRKY domains had different conserved sites in different groups or subgroups, and some members had a special heptapeptide motif. Protein and gene structure analysis indicated that there were significant differences between the groups in terms of the distribution of WRKY motifs and the number of introns in barley. Tissue expression pattern analysis demonstrated that the transcription levels of most genes exhibited tissue and growth-stage specificity. In addition, the analysis of cis-elements in the promoter region revealed that almost all HvWRKYs had plant hormone or stress response cis-elements, and there were differences in the numbers between groups. Finally, the transcriptional levels of 15 HvWRKY genes under drought, cadmium, or salt stress were analyzed by quantitative real-time PCR. It was found that most of the gene expression levels responded to one or more abiotic stresses. These results provide a foundation for further analysis of the function of WRKY gene family members in abiotic stress.


2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (12) ◽  
pp. 1288-1303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qing Wang ◽  
Stefanie Vera Buxa ◽  
Alexandra Furch ◽  
Wolfgang Friedt ◽  
Sven Gottwald

Fusarium graminearum is one of the most common and potent fungal pathogens of wheat (Triticum aestivum), known for causing devastating spike infections and grain yield damage. F. graminearum is a typical soil-borne pathogen that builds up during consecutive cereal cropping. Speculation on systemic colonization of cereals by F. graminearum root infection have long existed but have not been proven. We have assessed the Fusarium root rot disease macroscopically in a diverse set of 12 wheat genotypes and microscopically in a comparative study of two genotypes with diverging responses. Here, we show a ‘new’ aspect of the F. graminearum life cycle, i.e., the head blight fungus uses a unique root-infection strategy with an initial stage typical for root pathogens and a later stage typical for spike infection. Root colonization negatively affects seedling development and leads to systemic plant invasion by tissue-adapted fungal strategies. Another major outcome is the identification of partial resistance to root rot. Disease severity assessments and histological examinations both demonstrated three distinct disease phases that, however, proceeded differently in resistant and susceptible genotypes. Soil-borne inoculum and root infection are considered significant components of the F. graminearum life cycle with important implications for the development of new strategies of resistance breeding and disease control.


Genome ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 187-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong Zhou ◽  
Lifang Hu ◽  
Lunwei Jiang ◽  
Shiqiang Liu

Metacaspase (MC), a family of caspase-like proteins, plays vital roles in regulating programmed cell death (PCD) during development and in response to stresses in plants. In this study, five MC genes (designated as CsMC1 to CsMC5) were identified in the cucumber (Cucumis sativus) genome. Sequence analysis revealed that CsMC1–CsMC3 belong to type I MC proteins, while CsMC4 and CsMC5 are type II MC proteins. Phylogenetic tree and conserved motif analysis of MC proteins indicated that these proteins can be classified into two groups, which are correlated with the types of these MC proteins. Gene structure analysis demonstrated that type I CsMC genes contain 4–7 introns, while all type II CsMC genes harbor one intron. In addition, many hormone-, stress-, and development-related cis-elements were identified in the promoter regions of CsMC genes. Expression analysis using RNA-seq data revealed that CsMC genes have distinct expression patterns in various tissues and developmental stages. qRT-PCR results showed that the transcript levels of CsMC genes could be regulated by various abiotic stresses such as NaCl, PEG, and cold. These results demonstrate that the cucumber MC gene family may function in tissue development and plant stress responses.


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