AUTHOR=Kong Weilong , Sun Tong , Zhang Chenhao , Qiang Yalin , Li Yangsheng 

TITLE=Micro-Evolution Analysis Reveals Diverged Patterns of Polyol Transporters in Seven Gramineae Crops

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Genetics

VOLUME=Volume 11 - 2020

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/genetics/articles/10.3389/fgene.2020.00565

DOI=10.3389/fgene.2020.00565

ISSN=1664-8021

ABSTRACT=Polyol Transporters (PLTs) also called Polyol/Monosaccharide Transporters (PMTs) is of significance in determining plant development and sugar transportation. However, the diverged evolutionary patterns of PLTs gene family in Gramineae crops are still unclear. Here, a micro-evolution analysis was performed among the seven Gramineae representative crops using whole genome sequences, i.e., Brachypodium distachyon (Bd), Hordeum vulgare (Hv), Oryza rufipogon (Or), Oryza sativa (Os), Sorghum bicolor (Sb), Setaria italica (Si), and Zea mays (Zm), leading to the identification of 12, 11, 12, 15, 20, 24, and 20 PLTs genes, respectively. In this study, all PLTs genes were divided into nine orthogroups (OGs). However, the number of PLTs genes and the distribution of PLTs OGs were not the same in these seven Gramineae species, and different OGs were also subject to different purification selection pressures. These results indicated that the PLTs OGs of PLTs gene family have been expanded or lost unevenly in all tested species. Then, our results of gene duplication events confirmed that gene duplication events promoted the expansion of PLTs gene family in some Gramineous plants, namely, Bd, Or, Os, Si, Sb, and Zm. But the degree of gene family expansion, the type of PLTs gene duplication, and the differentiation time of duplicate gene pairs varied greatly among these species. In addition, sequence alignment and the internal repeats analysis of all PLTs protein sequences implied that PLTs protein sequences may originate from an internal repeat duplication of an ancestral six-TMHs unit. Besides, protein motifs result highlighted that PLTs proteins sequences were highly conserved, whereas functional differentiation of PLTs genes was characterized by different gene structures, upstream elements, as well as co-expression analysis. Gene expression analysis of rice and maize showed that PLTs genes have a wide range of expression patterns, suggesting diverse biological functions. Taken together, our finding provided a perspective on the evolution differences and functional characterizations of PLTs genes in Gramineae representative crops.