Engineering Center of Genetic Breeding and Innovative Utilization of Small Fruits of Jilin Province, College of Horticulture, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, 130118, China.
College of Life Sciences, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, 130118, China.
BMC Plant Biol. 2021 Jan 6;21(1):5. doi: 10.1186/s12870-020-02767-9.
Caffeic acid O-methyltransferases (COMTs) play an important role in the diversification of natural products, especially in the phenylalanine metabolic pathway of plant. The content of COMT genes in blueberry and relationship between their expression patterns and the lignin content during fruit development have not clearly investigated by now.
Ninety-two VcCOMTs were identified in Vaccinium corymbosum. According to phylogenetic analyses, the 92 VcCOMTs were divided into 2 groups. The gene structure and conserved motifs within groups were similar which supported the reliability of the phylogenetic structure groupings. Dispersed duplication (DSD) and whole-genome duplication (WGD) were determined to be the major forces in VcCOMTs evolution. The results showed that the results of qRT-PCR and lignin content for 22 VcCOMTs, VcCOMT40 and VcCOMT92 were related to lignin content at different stages of fruit development of blueberry.
We identified COMT gene family in blueberry, and performed comparative analyses of the phylogenetic relationships in the 15 species of land plant, and gene duplication patterns of COMT genes in 5 of the 15 species. We found 2 VcCOMTs were highly expressed and their relative contents were similar to the variation trend of lignin content during the development of blueberry fruit. These results provide a clue for further study on the roles of VcCOMTs in the development of blueberry fruit and could promisingly be foundations for breeding blueberry clutivals with higher fruit firmness and longer shelf life.
咖啡酸-O-甲基转移酶（COMTs）在天然产物的多样化中起着重要作用，尤其是在植物苯丙氨酸代谢途径中。目前尚未清楚地研究蓝莓中的 COMT 基因含量及其表达模式与果实发育过程中木质素含量之间的关系。
从蓝莓中鉴定出 92 个 VcCOMTs。根据系统发育分析，92 个 VcCOMTs 分为 2 组。组内的基因结构和保守基序相似，这支持了系统发育结构分组的可靠性。分散复制（DSD）和全基因组复制（WGD）被确定为 VcCOMTs 进化的主要力量。结果表明，22 个 VcCOMTs、VcCOMT40 和 VcCOMT92 的 qRT-PCR 结果和木质素含量与蓝莓果实发育不同阶段的木质素含量相关。
我们鉴定了蓝莓中的 COMT 基因家族，并对 15 种陆地植物的系统发育关系进行了比较分析，对 5 种植物中的 COMT 基因的复制模式进行了分析。我们发现 2 个 VcCOMTs 表达量较高，其相对含量与蓝莓果实发育过程中木质素含量的变化趋势相似。这些结果为进一步研究 VcCOMTs 在蓝莓果实发育中的作用提供了线索，并有望为培育具有更高果实硬度和更长货架期的蓝莓品种奠定基础。
