AUTHOR=Nisar Tayyaba , Tahir Muhammad Hammad Nadeem , Iqbal Shahid , Sajjad Muhammad , Nadeem Muhammad Azhar , Qanmber Ghulam , Baig Ayesha , Khan Zulqurnain , Zhao Zhengyun , Geng Zhide , Ur Rehman Shoaib 

TITLE=Genome-wide characterization and sequence polymorphism analyses of cysteine-rich poly comb-like protein in Glycine max

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2022.996265

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2022.996265

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>Cysteine-rich poly comb-like protein (<italic>CPP</italic>) is a member of cysteine-rich transcription factors that regulates plant growth and development. In the present work, we characterized twelve <italic>CPP</italic> transcription factors encoding genes in soybean (<italic>Glycine max</italic>). Phylogenetic analyses classified <italic>CPP</italic> genes into six clades. Sequence logos analyses between <italic>G. max</italic> and <italic>G. soja</italic> amino acid residues exhibited high conservation. The presence of growth and stress-related <italic>cis</italic>-acting elements in the upstream regions of <italic>GmCPPs</italic> highlight their role in plant development and tolerance against abiotic stress. <italic>Ka/Ks</italic> levels showed that <italic>GmCPPs</italic> experienced limited selection pressure with limited functional divergence arising from segmental or whole genome duplication events. By using the PAN-genome of soybean, a single nucleotide polymorphism was identified in <italic>GmCPP-6</italic>. To perform high throughput genotyping, a kompetitive allele-specific PCR (KASP) marker was developed. Association analyses indicated that <italic>GmCPP-6-T</italic> allele of <italic>GmCPP-6</italic> (in exon region) was associated with higher thousand seed weight under both water regimes (well-water and water-limited). Taken together, these results provide vital information to further decipher the biological functions of <italic>CPP</italic> genes in soybean molecular breeding.</p>