Genome-Wide Identification and Evolutionary Analysis of Tubby-Like Protein (TLP) Gene Family and Expression Analyses During Salt and Drought Stress.

Tubby-like proteins (TLPs) possess a highly conserved closed β barrel tubby domain at C-terminal and N-terminal F-box. The role of gene family members has been widely discussed in numerous organisms; however, the detailed genome-wide study of this gene family in species has not been reported till date. Here, we systematically identified 105 gene family members in cotton (, and ) genomes and classified them into eight phylogenetic groups. Cotton gene family members clustered into two groups, 4 and 8. They experienced higher evolutionary pressure in comparison to others, indicating the faster evolution in both diploid as well as in tetraploid cotton. Cotton gene family members expanded mainly due to segmental duplication, while only one pair of tandem duplication was found in cotton paralogous gene pairs. Subsequent qRT-PCR validation of seven putative key candidate genes of indicated that and genes were highly sensitive to salt and drought stress. The co-expression network, pathways, and -regulatory elements of and genes confirmed their functional importance in salt and drought stress responses. This study proposes the significance of and genes in exerting control over salt and drought stress responses in and also provides a reference for future research, elaborating the biological roles of in both stress responses.