AUTHOR=Wu Xiangyu , Yang Han , Qu Chunpu , Xu Zhiru , Li Wei , Hao Bingqing , Yang Chuanping , Sun Guangyu , Liu Guanjun 

TITLE=Sequence and expression analysis of the AMT gene family in poplar

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=6

YEAR=2015

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2015.00337

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2015.00337

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>Ammonium transporters (AMTs) are plasma membrane proteins that exclusively transport ammonium/ammonia. These proteins are encoded by an ancient gene family with many members. The molecular characteristics and evolutionary history of AMTs in woody plants are still poorly understood. We comprehensively evaluated the <italic>AMT</italic> gene family in the latest release of the <italic>Populus trichocarpa</italic> genome (version 3.0; Phytozome 9.0), and identified 16 <italic>AMT</italic> genes. These genes formed four clusters; <italic>AMT1</italic> (7 genes), <italic>AMT2</italic> (2 genes), <italic>AMT3</italic> (2 genes), and <italic>AMT4</italic> (5 genes). Evolutionary analyses suggested that the <italic>Populus AMT</italic> gene family has expanded via whole-genome duplication events. Among the 16 <italic>AMT</italic> genes, 15 genes are located on 11 chromosomes of <italic>Populus</italic>. Expression analyses showed that 14 <italic>AMT</italic> genes were vegetative organs expressed; <italic>AMT1;1/1;3/1;6/3;2</italic> and <italic>AMT1;1/1;2/2;2/3;1</italic> had high transcript accumulation level in the leaves and roots, respectively and strongly changes under the nitrogen-dependent experiments. The results imply the functional roles of <italic>AMT</italic> genes in ammonium absorption in poplar.</p>