Genome-Wide Identification and Expression Analysis of Catalase Gene Families in .

Aerobic metabolism in plants results in the production of hydrogen peroxide (HO), a significant and comparatively stable non-radical reactive oxygen species (ROS). HO is a signaling molecule that regulates particular physiological and biological processes (the cell cycle, photosynthesis, plant growth and development, and plant responses to environmental challenges) at low concentrations. Plants may experience oxidative stress and ultimately die from cell death if excess HO builds up. , and are different ancient wheat species that present different interesting characteristics, and their importance is becoming more and more clear. In fact, due to their interesting nutritive health, flavor, and nutritional values, as well as their resistance to different parasites, the cultivation of these species is increasingly important. Thus, it is important to understand the mechanisms of plant tolerance to different biotic and abiotic stresses by studying different stress-induced gene families such as catalases (CAT), which are important HO-metabolizing enzymes found in plants. Here, we identified seven -encoding genes () in , four genes in (), and eight genes in (). The accuracy of the newly identified wheat CAT gene members in different wheat genomes is confirmed by the gene structures, phylogenetic relationships, protein domains, and subcellular location analyses discussed in this article. In fact, our analysis showed that the identified genes harbor the following two conserved domains: a catalase domain (pfam00199) and a catalase-related domain (pfam06628). Phylogenetic analyses showed that the identified wheat CAT proteins were present in an analogous form in durum wheat and bread wheat. Moreover, the identified CAT proteins were located essentially in the peroxisome, as revealed by in silico analyses. Interestingly, analyses of CAT promoters in those species revealed the presence of different cis elements related to plant development, maturation, and plant responses to different environmental stresses. According to RT-qPCR, genes showed distinctive expression designs in the studied organs and in response to different treatments (salt, heat, cold, mannitol, and ABA). This study completed a thorough analysis of the CAT genes in , which advances our knowledge of CAT genes and establishes a framework for further functional analyses of the wheat gene family.