ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Bioinformatics
Gene Family of Catharanthus roseus Receptor-Like Kinase 1-like in Sorghum bicolor: Identification, Evolution, Function, and Stress Response
Nana Li
Kai Wang
Hong Xing
Fengfeng Dang
Xiaolong He
Haibin Zhao
Yan 'an University, Yanan, China
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Abstract
The Catharanthus roseus receptor-like kinase 1-like (CrRLK1L) gene family, part of the plant receptor-like kinase (RLK) superfamily, plays critical roles in regulating plant growth, reproduction, signal transduction, and stress responses. In this study, we identified 28 CrRLK1L genes in the Sorghum bicolor genome. Phylogenetic analysis classified these SbCrRLK1L members into four distinct subgroups, with same subgroup sharing conserved gene structures and motif compositions. Notably, whole-genome duplication (WGD), tandem duplication (TD), proximal duplication (PD), dispersed duplication (DSD) and transposed duplication (TRD) events promoted the expansion of the SbCrRLK1L gene family. Abundant cis-acting elements involved in hormone regulation, stress responses, light perception, and growth/development were identified in the 2 kb upstream promoter regions of SbCrRLK1L family genes. Tissue-specific expression profiling further revealed SbCrRLK1L8/17/24/25/26 are specifically highly expressed in the roots. This finding implies that SbCrRLK1L8/17/24/25/26 may be involved in the root development. Under drought and salt stress treatments, SbCrRLK1L1/8/17/24/25 showed significant expression changes, suggesting these members may serve as key candidate genes in S. bicolor response to abiotic stress. Overall, our study provides new insights into the role of the CrRLK1L gene family in abiotic stress.
Summary
Keywords
Catharanthus roseus Receptor-Like Kinase, Drought and salt stresses, duplication events, evolution, SbCrRLK1L gene family
Received
21 November 2025
Accepted
18 February 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Li, Wang, Xing, Dang, He and Zhao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Haibin Zhao
Disclaimer
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