AUTHOR=Jain Priyanka , Singh Ankita , Iquebal Mir Asif , Jaiswal Sarika , Kumar Sundeep , Kumar Dinesh , Rai Anil 

TITLE=Genome-Wide Analysis and Evolutionary Perspective of the Cytokinin Dehydrogenase Gene Family in Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Genetics

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/genetics/articles/10.3389/fgene.2022.931659

DOI=10.3389/fgene.2022.931659

ISSN=1664-8021

ABSTRACT=Cytokinin dehydrogenase (CKX; EC.1.5.99.12) regulates the level of cytokinin (CK) in plants and is involved in CK regulatory activities. In different plants, a small gene family encodes CKX proteins with varied numbers of members. These genes are expanded in the genome mainly due to segmental duplication events. Despite their biological importance, CKX genes in Triticum aestivum have yet to be studied in depth. A total of 11 CKX sub-families were identified with similar gene structures, motifs, domains, cis-acting elements and an average signal peptide of 25 amino acid length was found. Introns, ranging from one to four, were present in the coding regions at a similar interval in major CKX genes. Putative cis-elements like abscisic acid, auxin, salicylic acid, low-temperature, drought and light-responsive cis-regulatory elements were found in the promoter region of majority CKX genes. Variation in the expression pattern of CKX genes were identified across different tissues in Triticum. Phylogenetic analysis shows that the same subfamily of CKX clustered into a similar clade that reflects their evolutionary relationship. We performed genome-wide identification of CKXs family members in Triticum aestivum genome to get their chromosomal location, gene structure, cis-element, phylogeny, synteny, tissue and stage-specific expression along with the gene ontology. This study has also elaborately described the tissue and stage-specific expression and is the resource for further analysis of CKX in regulation of biotic and abiotic stress resistance, growth and development in Triticum and other cereals in endeavour for higher production and proper management.