Han Yahui, Ding Ting, Su Bo, Jiang Haiyang
Key Laboratory of Crop Biology of Anhui Province, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China.
Int J Mol Sci. 2016 Jan 27;17(2):161. doi: 10.3390/ijms17020161.
Members of the chalcone synthase (CHS) family participate in the synthesis of a series of secondary metabolites in plants, fungi and bacteria. The metabolites play important roles in protecting land plants against various environmental stresses during the evolutionary process. Our research was conducted on comprehensive investigation of CHS genes in maize (Zea mays L.), including their phylogenetic relationships, gene structures, chromosomal locations and expression analysis. Fourteen CHS genes (ZmCHS01-14) were identified in the genome of maize, representing one of the largest numbers of CHS family members identified in one organism to date. The gene family was classified into four major classes (classes I-IV) based on their phylogenetic relationships. Most of them contained two exons and one intron. The 14 genes were unevenly located on six chromosomes. Two segmental duplication events were identified, which might contribute to the expansion of the maize CHS gene family to some extent. In addition, quantitative real-time PCR and microarray data analyses suggested that ZmCHS genes exhibited various expression patterns, indicating functional diversification of the ZmCHS genes. Our results will contribute to future studies of the complexity of the CHS gene family in maize and provide valuable information for the systematic analysis of the functions of the CHS gene family.
查尔酮合酶（CHS）家族成员参与植物、真菌和细菌中一系列次生代谢产物的合成。在进化过程中，这些代谢产物在保护陆地植物抵御各种环境胁迫方面发挥着重要作用。我们对玉米（Zea mays L.）中的CHS基因进行了全面研究，包括它们的系统发育关系、基因结构、染色体定位和表达分析。在玉米基因组中鉴定出14个CHS基因（ZmCHS01 - 14），这是迄今为止在一个生物体中鉴定出的CHS家族成员数量最多的情况之一。根据系统发育关系，该基因家族被分为四大类（I - IV类）。它们中的大多数包含两个外显子和一个内含子。这14个基因不均匀地分布在6条染色体上。鉴定出了两个片段重复事件，这可能在一定程度上促成了玉米CHS基因家族的扩张。此外，定量实时PCR和微阵列数据分析表明，ZmCHS基因表现出多种表达模式，表明ZmCHS基因具有功能多样性。我们的结果将有助于未来对玉米CHS基因家族复杂性的研究，并为系统分析CHS基因家族的功能提供有价值的信息。
