Cao Yunpeng, Meng Dandan, Abdullah Muhammad, Jin Qing, Lin Yi, Cai Yongping
School of Life Sciences, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China.
Genes (Basel). 2018 Apr 23;9(4):224. doi: 10.3390/genes9040224.
The VQ motif-containing gene, a member of the plant-specific genes, is involved in the plant developmental process and various stress responses. The VQ motif-containing gene family has been studied in several plants, such as rice (), maize (), and Arabidopsis (). However, no systematic study has been performed in species, which have important economic value. In our study, we identified 41 and 28 VQ motif-containing genes in and , respectively. Phylogenetic trees were calculated using and VQ motif-containing genes as a template, allowing us to categorize these genes into nine subfamilies. Thirty-two and eight paralogous of VQ motif-containing genes were found in and , respectively, showing that the VQ motif-containing genes had a more remarkable expansion in than in . A total of 31 orthologous pairs were identified from the and VQ motif-containing genes. Additionally, among the paralogs, we found that these duplication gene pairs probably derived from segmental duplication/whole-genome duplication (WGD) events in the genomes of and , respectively. The gene expression profiles in both and fruits suggested functional redundancy for some orthologous gene pairs derived from a common ancestry, and sub-functionalization or neo-functionalization for some of them. Our study provided the first systematic evolutionary analysis of the VQ motif-containing genes in , and highlighted the diversification and duplication of VQ motif-containing genes in both and .
含VQ基序的基因是植物特有的基因家族成员，参与植物发育过程和各种应激反应。含VQ基序的基因家族已在几种植物中得到研究，如水稻、玉米和拟南芥。然而，尚未在具有重要经济价值的[具体物种]中进行系统研究。在我们的研究中，我们分别在[物种1]和[物种2]中鉴定出41个和28个含VQ基序的基因。以[物种1]和[物种2]的含VQ基序的基因为模板构建系统发育树，使我们能够将这些基因分为九个亚家族。在[物种1]和[物种2]中分别发现了32个和8个含VQ基序基因的旁系同源基因，表明含VQ基序的基因在[物种1]中的扩张比在[物种2]中更显著。从[物种1]和[物种2]的含VQ基序的基因中总共鉴定出31对直系同源基因。此外，在旁系同源基因中，我们发现这些重复基因对可能分别源自[物种1]和[物种2]基因组中的片段重复/全基因组重复（WGD）事件。[物种1]和[物种2]果实中的基因表达谱表明，一些源自共同祖先的直系同源基因对具有功能冗余，而其中一些则发生了亚功能化或新功能化。我们的研究首次对[物种1]中含VQ基序的基因进行了系统进化分析，并突出了[物种1]和[物种2]中含VQ基序基因的多样化和重复。
