The Evolution and Expression Profiles of EC1 Gene Family during Development in Cotton

Genes

Akwasi Yeboah¹  Jinbo Yao¹  Wei Chen¹  Yan Li¹  Shouhong Zhu¹  Yongshan Zhang²  Xinyu Wang² 

[1] State Key Laboratory of Cotton Biology, Institute of Cotton Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Anyang 455000, China;Zhengzhou Research Base, State Key Laboratory of Cotton Biology, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China;

关键词: cotton;    egg cell 1 (EC1);    evolution;    gene family;    double fertilization;   

DOI  :  10.3390/genes12122001

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Fertilization is essential to sexual reproduction of flowering plants. EC1 (EGG CELL 1) proteins have a conserved cysteine spacer characteristic and play a crucial role in double fertilization process in many plant species. However, to date, the role of EC1 gene family in cotton is fully unknown. Hence, detailed bioinformatics analysis was explored to elucidate the biological mechanisms of EC1 gene family in cotton. In this study, we identified 66 genes in 10 plant species in which a total of 39 EC1 genes were detected from cotton genome. Phylogenetic analysis clustered the identified EC1 genes into three families (I-III) and all of them contain Prolamin-like domains. A good collinearity was observed in the synteny analysis of the orthologs from cotton genomes. Whole-genome duplication was determined to be one of the major impetuses for the expansion of the EC1 gene family during the process of evolution. qRT-PCR analysis showed that EC1 genes were highly expressed in reproductive tissues under multiple stresses, signifying their potential role in enhancing stress tolerance or responses. Additionally, gene interaction networks showed that EC1 genes may be involved in cell stress and response transcriptional regulator in the synergid cells and activate the expression of genes required for pollen tube guidance. Our results provide novel functional insights into the evolution and functional elucidation of EC1 gene family in cotton.

【 授权许可】

Unknown