Evolutionary characterization and transcript profiling of β-tubulin genes in flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) during plant development

BMC Plant Biology

Research Article

Gaia Pigna¹  Silvia Gianì¹  Floriana Gavazzi¹  Diego Breviario¹  Luca Braglia¹  Laura Morello¹ 

[1] Istituto Biologia e Biotecnologia Agraria, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Via A. Corti, 12, 20133, Milan, Italy;

关键词: Flax;    β-tubulin;    Bast fibres;    Expression analysis;    Phylogenetic analysis;    Gene family;    Duplicated genes;    Pollen tube;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12870-017-1186-0

 received in 2017-04-04, accepted in 2017-11-29,  发布年份 2017

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundMicrotubules, polymerized from alpha and beta-tubulin monomers, play a fundamental role in plant morphogenesis, determining the cell division plane, the direction of cell expansion and the deposition of cell wall material. During polarized pollen tube elongation, microtubules serve as tracks for vesicular transport and deposition of proteins/lipids at the tip membrane. Such functions are controlled by cortical microtubule arrays. Aim of this study was to first characterize the flax β-tubulin family by sequence and phylogenetic analysis and to investigate differential expression of β-tubulin genes possibly related to fibre elongation and to flower development.ResultsWe report the cloning and characterization of the complete flax β-tubulin gene family: exon-intron organization, duplicated gene comparison, phylogenetic analysis and expression pattern during stem and hypocotyl elongation and during flower development. Sequence analysis of the fourteen expressed β-tubulin genes revealed that the recent whole genome duplication of the flax genome was followed by massive retention of duplicated tubulin genes. Expression analysis showed that β-tubulin mRNA profiles gradually changed along with phloem fibre development in both the stem and hypocotyl. In flowers, changes in relative tubulin transcript levels took place at anthesis in anthers, but not in carpels.ConclusionsPhylogenetic analysis supports the origin of extant plant β-tubulin genes from four ancestral genes pre-dating angiosperm separation. Expression analysis suggests that particular tubulin subpopulations are more suitable to sustain different microtubule functions such as cell elongation, cell wall thickening or pollen tube growth. Tubulin genes possibly related to different microtubule functions were identified as candidate for more detailed studies.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2017