Genome-wide analysis, evolutionary expansion, and expression of early auxin-responsive SAUR gene family in rice (Oryza sativa)

Molecular evolution of the CPP-like gene family in plants: insights from comparative genomics of Arabidopsis and rice

CPP-like genes are members of a small family which features the existence of two similar Cys-rich domains termed CXC domains in their protein products and are distributed widely in plants and animals but do not exist in yeast. The members of this family in plants play an important role in development of reproductive tissue and control of cell division. To gain insights into how CPP-like genes evolved in plants, we conducted a comparative phylogenetic and molecular evolutionary analysis of the CPP-like gene family in Arabidopsis and rice. The results of phylogeny revealed that both gene loss and species-specific expansion contributed to the evolution of this family in Arabidopsis and rice. Both intron gain and intron loss were observed through intron/exon structure analysis for duplicated genes. Our results also suggested that positive selection was a major force during the evolution of CPP-like genes in plants, and most amino acid residues under positive selection were disproportionately located in the region outside the CXC domains. Further analysis revealed that two CXC domains and sequences connecting them might have coevolved during the long evolutionary period.

Sequence and expression analysis of the thioredoxin protein gene family in rice

Thioredoxin (Trx) proteins play important biological functions in cells by changing redox via thioldisulfide exchange. This system is especially widespread in plants. Through database search, we identified 30 potential Trx protein-encoding genes (OsTrx) in rice (Oryza sativa L.). An analysis of the complete set of OsTrx proteins is presented here, including chromosomal location, conserved motifs, domain duplication, and phylogenetic relationships. Our findings suggest that the expansion of the Trx gene family in rice, in large part, occurred due to gene duplication. A comprehensive expression profile of Trx genes family was investigated by analyzing the signal data of this family extracted from the whole genome microarray analysis of Minghui 63 and Zhenshan 97, two indica parents, and their hybrid Shanyou 63, using 27 different tissues representing the entire life cycle of rice. Results revealed specific expression of some members at germination transition as well as the 3-leaf stage during the vegetative growth phase of rice. OsTrx genes were also found to be differentially up- or down-regulated in rice seedlings subjected to treatments of phytohormones and light/dark conditions. The expression levels of the OsTrx genes in the different tissues and under different treatments were also checked by RT-PCR analysis. The identification of OsTrx genes showing differential expression in specific tissues among different genotypes or in response to different environmental cues could provide a new avenue for functional analyses in rice.

Genome-wide identification, classification, evolutionary expansion and expression analyses of homeobox genes in rice

Homeobox genes play a critical role in regulating various aspects of plant growth and development. In the present study, we identified a total of 107 homeobox genes in the rice genome and grouped them into ten distinct subfamilies based upon their domain composition and phylogenetic analysis. A significantly large number of homeobox genes are located in the duplicated segments of the rice genome, which suggests that the expansion of homeobox gene family, in large part, might have occurred due to segmental duplications in rice. Furthermore, microarray analysis was performed to elucidate the expression profiles of these genes in different tissues and during various stages of vegetative and reproductive development. Several genes with predominant expression during various stages of panicle and seed development were identified. At least 37 homeobox genes were found to be differentially expressed significantly (more than two-fold; P < 0.05) under various abiotic stress conditions. The results of the study suggest a critical role of homeobox genes in reproductive development and abiotic stress signaling in rice, and will facilitate the selection of candidate genes of agronomic importance for functional validation.

Analysis of expression profile of selected genes expressed during auxin-induced somatic embryogenesis in leaf base system of wheat (Triticum aestivum) and their possible interactions

Somatic embryogenesis is a notable illustration of plant totipotency and involves reprogramming of development in somatic cells toward the embryogenic pathway. Auxins are key components as their exogenous application recuperates the embryogenic potential of the mitotically quiescent somatic cells. In order to unravel the molecular basis of somatic embryogenesis, cDNA library was made from the regeneration proficient wheat leaf base segments treated with auxin. In total, 1440 clones were sequenced and among these 1,196 good quality sequences were assembled into 270 contigs and 425 were singletons. By reverse northern analysis, a total of 57 clones were found to be upregulated during somatic embryogenesis, 64 during 2,4-D treatment, and 170 were common to 2,4-D treatment and somatic embryogenesis. A substantial number of genes involved in hormone response, signal transduction cascades, defense, anti-oxidation, programmed cell death/senescence and cell division were identified and characterized partially. Analysis of data of select genes suggests that the induction phase of somatic embryogenesis is accompanied by the expression of genes that may also be involved in zygotic embryogenesis. The developmental reprogramming process may in fact involve multiple cellular pathways and unfolding of as yet unknown molecular events. Thus, an interaction network draft using bioinformatics and system biology strategy was constructed. The outcome of a systematic and comprehensive analysis of somatic embryogenesis associated interactome in a monocot leaf base system is presented.

Genome-wide gene expression profiling reveals conserved and novel molecular functions of the stigma in rice

In angiosperms, the stigma provides initial nutrients and guidance cues for pollen grain germination and tube growth. However, little is known about the genes that regulate these processes in rice (Oryza sativa). Here, we generate rice stigma-specific or -preferential gene expression profiles through comparing genome-wide expression patterns of hand-dissected, unpollinated stigma at anthesis with seven tissues, including seedling shoot, seedling root, mature anther, ovary at anthesis, seeds 5 d after pollination, 10-d-old embryo, 10-d-old endosperm, and suspension-cultured cells by using both 57 K Affymetrix rice whole-genome array and 10 K rice cDNA microarray. A high reproducibility of the microarray results was detected between the two different technology platforms. In total, we identified 548 genes to be expressed specifically or predominantly in the stigma papillar cells of rice. Real-time quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis of 34 selected genes all confirmed their stigma-specific expression. The expression of five selected genes was further validated by RNA in situ hybridization. Gene Ontology analysis shows that several auxin-signaling components, transcription, and stress-related genes are significantly overrepresented in the rice stigma gene set. Interestingly, most of them also share several cis-regulatory elements with known stress-responsive genes, supporting the notion of an overlap of genetic programs regulating pollination and stress/defense responses. We also found that genes involved in cell wall metabolism and cellular communication appear to be conserved in the stigma between rice and Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Our results indicate that the stigmas appear to have conserved and novel molecular functions between rice and Arabidopsis.

Phylogenetic and expression analysis of ZnF-AN1 genes in plants

In plants, ZnF-AN1 genes are part of a multigene family with 13 members in Arabidopsis thaliana, 19 members in Populus trichocarpa, 17 members in Oryza sativa, at least 11 members in Zea mays, and 2 members in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. All ZnF-AN1 genes contain the ZnF-AN1 domain. According to the phylogenetic analysis of the ZnF-AN1 domain, we divided plant ZnF-AN1 genes into two types. The coding sequences of most type I members do not possess any introns, while most type II members do possess intron(s). Through Northern blot analysis of maize members and digital Northern analysis of Arabidopsis members, we found that most ZnF-AN1 genes are involved in responses to abiotic stresses. The evolutionary analysis indicated that the expansion rate of type I was higher than that of type II. After expansion, some ZnF-AN1 genes may have gained new functions, some may have lost their functions, and some were specialized to perform their functions in stress-specific or tissue-specific modes. In addition, we propose an evolutionary model of type II ZnF-AN1 genes in plants.

Genome-wide analysis of intronless genes in rice and Arabidopsis

Intronless genes, a characteristic feature of prokaryotes, constitute a significant portion of the eukaryotic genomes. Our analysis revealed the presence of 11,109 (19.9%) and 5,846 (21.7%) intronless genes in rice and Arabidopsis genomes, respectively, belonging to different cellular role and gene ontology categories. The distribution and conservation of rice and Arabidopsis intronless genes among different taxonomic groups have been analyzed. A total of 301 and 296 intronless genes from rice and Arabidopsis, respectively, are conserved among organisms representing the three major domains of life, i.e., archaea, bacteria, and eukaryotes. These evolutionarily conserved proteins are predicted to be involved in housekeeping cellular functions. Interestingly, among the 68% of rice and 77% of Arabidopsis intronless genes present only in eukaryotic genomes, approximately 51% and 57% genes have orthologs only in plants, and thus may represent the plant-specific genes. Furthermore, 831 and 144 intronless genes of rice and Arabidopsis, respectively, referred to as ORFans, do not exhibit homology to any of the genes in the database and may perform species-specific functions. These data can serve as a resource for further comparative, evolutionary, and functional analysis of intronless genes in plants and other organisms.

Comparative study of SBP-box gene family in Arabidopsis and rice

SBP-box proteins are plant-specific putative transcription factors, which contain highly conserved SBP domain and could bind specifically to promoters of the floral meristem identity gene SQUAMOSA and its orthologous genes to regulate their expressions. In this study, 17 non-redundant SBP-box genes in Arabidopsis genome and 19 in rice genome were identified by using the known SBP domain sequences as queries. The phylogenetic analysis suggested that the main characteristics of this family might have been in existence before the split of Arabidopsis and rice, and most SBP-box genes expanded in a species-specific manner after the split of monocotyledon and dicotyledon. All the SBP-box proteins were classified into 9 subgroups based on the phylogenetic tree, where each group shared similar motifs and the orders of the motifs in the same group were found almost identical. Analysis of nonsynonymous and synonymous substitution rates revealed that the SBP domain had gone through purifying selection, whereas some regions outside SBP domain had gone through positive or relaxed purifying selection. The expression patterns of the SBP-box genes were further investigated by searching against the EST database. Results showed that the Arabidopsis SBP-box genes are expressed chiefly in flowers, leaves, roots and seeds, while those in rice mainly in flowers and callus.

F-box proteins in rice. Genome-wide analysis, classification, temporal and spatial gene expression during panicle and seed development, and regulation by light and abiotic stress

F-box proteins constitute a large family in eukaryotes and are characterized by a conserved F-box motif (approximately 40 amino acids). As components of the Skp1p-cullin-F-box complex, F-box proteins are critical for the controlled degradation of cellular proteins. We have identified 687 potential F-box proteins in rice (Oryza sativa), the model monocotyledonous plant, by a reiterative database search. Computational analysis revealed the presence of several other functional domains, including leucine-rich repeats, kelch repeats, F-box associated domain, domain of unknown function, and tubby domain in F-box proteins. Based upon their domain composition, they have been classified into 10 subfamilies. Several putative novel conserved motifs have been identified in F-box proteins, which do not contain any other known functional domain. An analysis of a complete set of F-box proteins in rice is presented, including classification, chromosomal location, conserved motifs, and phylogenetic relationship. It appears that the expansion of F-box family in rice, in large part, might have occurred due to localized gene duplications. Furthermore, comprehensive digital expression analysis of F-box protein-encoding genes has been complemented with microarray analysis. The results reveal specific and/or overlapping expression of rice F-box protein-encoding genes during floral transition as well as panicle and seed development. At least 43 F-box protein-encoding genes have been found to be differentially expressed in rice seedlings subjected to different abiotic stress conditions. The expression of several F-box protein-encoding genes is also influenced by light. The structure and function of F-box proteins in plants is discussed in light of these results and the published information. These data will be useful for prioritization of F-box proteins for functional validation in rice.

Genome-wide analysis of the auxin response factors (ARF) gene family in rice (Oryza sativa)

Auxin response factors (ARFs) are transcription factors that bind with specificity to TGTCTC-containing auxin response elements (AuxREs) found in promoters of primary/early auxin response genes and mediate responses to the plant hormone auxin. The ARF genes are represented by a large multigene family in plants. A comprehensive genome-wide analysis was carried out in this study to find all ARFs in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) and rice (Oryza sativa subsp. japonica), 23 and 25 ARF genes, named as AtARFs and OsARFs, were identified, respectively. Chromosomal locations of all OsARFs were presented and it was found that the duplication of OsARFs was associated with only the chromosomal block duplications but not local tandem duplications. A phylogenetic tree was generated from alignments of the full-length protein sequences of 25 OsARFs and 23 AtARFs to examine the phylogenetic relationships of rice and Arabidopsis ARF proteins. All 48 members of ARF gene families fell into three major classes, a total of 13 sister pairs, including 9 OsARF-OsARF, 2 AtARF-AtARF and 2 AtARF-OsARF sister pairs were formed, showing different orthologous relationships between AtARFs and OsARFs. EST analysis and RT-PCR assays demonstrated that 24 of all 25 OsARF genes were active and the transcript abundance of some OsARF genes was affected by auxin treatment or light- and dark-grown conditions. The outcome of the present study provides basic genomic information for the rice ARF gene family and will pave the way for elucidating the precise role of OsARFs in plant growth and development in the future.

Arabidopsis cytokinin-resistant mutant, cnr1, displays altered auxin responses and sugar sensitivity

Based upon the phenotype of young, dark-grown seedlings, a cytokinin-resistant mutant, cnr1, has been isolated, which displays altered cytokinin- and auxin-induced responses. The mutant seedlings possess short hypocotyls and open apical hooks (in dark), and display agravitropism, hyponastic cotyledons, reduced shoot growth, compact rosettes and short roots with increased adventitious branching and reduced number of root hairs. A number of these features invariably depend upon auxin/cytokinin ratio but the cnr1 mutant retains normal sensitivity towards auxin as well as auxin polar transport inhibitor, TIBA, although upregulation of primary auxin-responsive Aux/IAA genes is reduced. The mutant shows resistance towards cytokinin in hypocotyl/root growth inhibition assays, displays reduced regeneration in tissue cultures (cytokinin response) and decreased sensitivity to cytokinin for anthocyanin accumulation. It is thus conceivable that due to reduced sensitivity to cytokinin, the cnr1 mutant also shows altered auxin response. Surprisingly, the mutant retains normal sensitivity to cytokinin for induction of primary response genes, the type-A Arabidopsis response regulators, although the basal level of their expression was considerably reduced as compared to the wild-type. The zeatin and zeatin riboside levels, as estimated by HPLC, and the cytokinin oxidase activity were comparable in the cnr1 mutant and the wild-type. The hypersensitivity to red light (in hypocotyl growth inhibition assay), partial photomorphogenesis in dark, and hypersensitivity to sugars, are some other features displayed by the cnr1 mutant. The lesion in the cnr1 mutant has been mapped to the top of chromosome 1 where no other previously known cytokinin-resistant mutant has been mapped, indicating that the cnr1 mutant defines a novel locus involved in hormone, light and sugar signalling.

An early auxin-responsive Aux/IAA gene from wheat (Triticum aestivum) is induced by epibrassinolide and differentially regulated by light and calcium

The plant hormone auxin plays a central role in regulating many aspects of plant growth and development. This largely occurs as a consequence of changes in gene expression. The Aux/IAA genes are best characterized among the early auxin-responsive genes, which encode short-lived transcriptional repressors. In most plants examined, including Arabidopsis, soybean, and rice, the Aux/IAA genes constitute a large gene family. By screening the available databases, at least 15 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) have been identified from wheat (Triticum aestivum), which exhibit high sequence identity with Aux/IAA homologues in other species. One of these Aux/IAA genes, TaIAA1, harbouring all the four conserved domains characteristic of the Aux/IAA proteins, has been characterized in detail. The expression of TaIAA1 is light-sensitive, tissue-specific, and is induced within 15-30 min of exogenous auxin application. Also, the TaIAA1 transcript levels increase in the presence of a divalent cation, Ca(2+), and this effect is reversed by the calcium-chelating agent, EGTA. The TaIAA1 gene qualifies as the primary response gene because an increase in its transcript levels by auxin is unaffected by cycloheximide. In addition to auxin, the TaIAA1 gene is also induced by brassinosteroid, providing evidence that interplay between hormones is crucial for the regulation of plant growth and development.