Genome-wide identification of ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporter and heavy metal associated (HMA) gene families in flax (Linum usitatissimum L.)

Background The recent release of the reference genome sequence assembly of flax, a self-pollinated crop with 15 chromosome pairs, into chromosome-scale pseudomolecules enables the characterization of gene families. The ABC transporter and HMA gene families are important in the control of cadmium (Cd) accumulation in crops. To date, the genome-wide analysis of these two gene families has been successfully conducted in some plant species, but no systematic evolutionary analysis is available for the flax genome. Results Here we describe the ABC transporter and HMA gene families in flax to provide a comprehensive overview of its evolution and some support towards the functional annotation of its members. The 198 ABC transporter and 12 HMA genes identified in the flax genome were classified into eight ABC transporter and four HMA subfamilies based on their phylogenetic analysis and domains’ composition. Nine of these genes, i.e., LuABCC9, LuABCC10, LuABCG58, LuABCG59, LuABCG71, LuABCG72, LuABCG73, LuHMA3, and LuHMA4, were orthologous with the Cd associated genes in Arabidopsis, rice and maize. Ten motifs were identified from all ABC transporter and HMA genes. Also, several motifs were conserved among genes of similar length, but each subfamily each had their own motif structures. Both the ABC transporter and HMA gene families were highly conserved among subfamilies of flax and with those of Arabidopsis. While four types of gene duplication were observed at different frequencies, whole-genome or segmental duplications were the most frequent with 162 genes, followed by 29 dispersed, 14 tandem and 4 proximal duplications, suggesting that segmental duplications contributed the most to the expansion of both gene families in flax. The rates of non-synonymous to synonymous (Ka/Ks) mutations of paired duplicated genes were for the most part lower than one, indicative of a predominant purifying selection. Only five pairs of genes clearly exhibited positive selection with a Ka/Ks ratio greater than one. Gene ontology analyses suggested that most flax ABC transporter and HMA genes had a role in ATP binding, transport, catalytic activity, ATPase activity, and metal ion binding. The RNA-Seq analysis of eight different organs demonstrated diversified expression profiling patterns of the genes and revealed their functional or sub-functional conservation and neo-functionalization. Conclusion Characterization of the ABC transporter and HMA gene families will help in the functional analysis of candidate genes in flax and other crop species.

Genome-wide Identification of ATP Binding Cassette (ABC) Transporter and Heavy Metal Associated (HMA) Gene Families in Flax (Linum usitatissimum L.)

Background The recent release of the reference genome sequence assembly of flax, a self-pollinated crop with 15 chromosome pairs, into chromosome-scale pseudomolecules enables the characterization of gene families. The ABC transporter and HMA gene families are important in the control of cadmium (Cd) accumulation in crops. To date, the genome-wide analysis of these two gene families has been successfully conducted in some plant species, but no systematic evolutionary analysis is available for the flax genome. Results Here we describe the ABC transporter and HMA gene families in flax to provide a comprehensive overview of its evolution and some support towards the functional annotation of its members. The 198 ABC transporter and 12 HMA genes identified in the flax genome were classified into eight ABC transporter and four HMA subfamilies based on their phylogenetic analysis and domains’ composition. Nine of these genes, i.e., LuABCC9, LuABCC10, LuABCG58, LuABCG59, LuABCG71, LuABCG72, LuABCG73, LuHMA3, and LuHMA4, were orthologous with the Cd associated genes in Arabidopsis, rice and maize. Ten motifs were identified from all ABC transporter and HMA genes. Also, several motifs were conserved among genes of similar length, but subfamilies each had their own motif structures. Both the ABC transporter and HMA gene families were highly conserved among subfamilies of flax and with those of Arabidopsis. While four types of gene duplication were observed at different frequencies, whole-genome or segmental duplications were the most frequent with 162 genes, followed by 29 dispersed, 14 tandem and 4 proximal duplications, suggesting that segmental duplications contributed the most to the expansion of both gene families in flax. The rates of non-synonymous to synonymous (Ka/Ks) mutations of paired duplicated genes were for the most part lower than one, indicative of a predominant purifying selection. Only five pairs of genes clearly exhibited positive selection with a Ka/Ks ratio greater than one. Gene ontology analyses suggested that most flax ABC transporter and HMA genes had a role in ATP binding, transport, catalytic activity, ATPase activity, and metal ion binding. The RNA-Seq analysis of eight different organs demonstrated diversified expression profiling patterns of the genes and revealed their functional or sub-functional conservation and neo-functionalization. Conclusion Characterization of the ABC transporter and HMA gene families will help in the functional analysis of candidate genes in flax and other crop species.

Genome-wide Identification of ATP Binding Cassette (ABC) Transporter and Heavy Metal Associated (HMA) Gene Families in Flax (Linum usitatissimum L.)

BackgroundThe recent release of the reference genome sequence assembly of flax, a self-pollinated crop with 15 chromosome pairs, into chromosome-scale pseudomolecules enables the characterization of gene families. The ABC transporter and HMA gene families are important in the control of cadmium (Cd) accumulation in crops. To date, the genome-wide analysis of these two gene families has been successfully conducted in some plant species, but no systematic evolutionary analysis is available for the flax genome. ResultsHere we describe the ABC transporter and HMA gene families in flax to provide a comprehensive overview of its evolution and some support towards the functional annotation of its members. The 198 ABC transporter and 12 HMA genes identified in the flax genome were classified into eight ABC transporter and four HMA subfamilies based on their phylogenetic analysis and domains’ composition. Nine of these genes, i.e., LuABCC9, LuABCC10, LuABCG58, LuABCG59, LuABCG71, LuABCG72, LuABCG73, LuHMA3, and LuHMA4, were orthologous with the Cd associated genes in Arabidopsis, rice and maize. Ten motifs were identified from all ABC transporter and HMA genes. Also, several motifs were conserved among genes of similar length, but subfamilies each had their own motif structures. Both the ABC transporter and HMA gene families were highly conserved among subfamilies of flax and with those of Arabidopsis. While four types of gene duplication were observed at different frequencies, whole-genome or segmental duplications were the most frequent with 162 genes, followed by 29 dispersed, 14 tandem and 4 proximal duplications, suggesting that segmental duplications contributed the most to the expansion of both gene families in flax. The rates of non-synonymous to synonymous (Ka/Ks) mutations of paired duplicated genes were for the most part lower than one, indicative of a predominant purifying selection. Only five pairs of genes clearly exhibited positive selection with a Ka/Ks ratio greater than one. Gene ontology analyses suggested that most flax ABC transporter and HMA genes had a role in ATP binding, transport, catalytic activity, ATPase activity, and metal ion binding. The RNA-Seq analysis of eight different organs demonstrated diversified expression profiling patterns of the genes and revealed their functional or sub-functional conservation and neo-functionalization. ConclusionCharacterization of the ABC transporter and HMA gene families will help in the functional analysis of candidate genes in flax and other crop species.

Genome-wide Identification of ATP Binding Cassette (ABC) Transporter and Heavy Metal Associated (HMA) Gene Families in Flax (Linum usitatissimum L.)

Background Flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) is a self-pollinated crop and diversified into two morphotypes for its stem fibre and seed oil. The availability of the flax reference genome sequence, previously assembled into 15 pseudomolecules, enables the characterization of important gene families. The ABC transporter and HMA gene families are considered important gene families in the control of cadmium (Cd) accumulation in crops. To date, the genome-wide analysis of these two gene families has been successfully conducted in several plant species but no systematic study is available for the flax genome. Results Here we described both gene families in flax to provide a comprehensive overview of its evolution and some support towards the functional annotation of its members. The 198 ABC transporter and 12 HMA genes identified in the flax genome were classified into eight ABC transporter and four HMA subfamilies based on their phylogenetic analysis and domain compositions. Nine of these genes, i.e., LuABCC9, LuABCC10, LuABCG58, LuABCG59, LuABCG71, LuABCG72, LuABCG73, LuHMA3, and LuHMA4, were orthologous with the Cd associated genes in Arabidopsis, rice and maize. Ten motifs were identified from all ABC transporter and HMA genes and several motifs were conserved for all genes with similar gene length, but different subfamilies had their different motif structures. Both the ABC transporter and HMA families were highly conserved among subfamilies of flax and with Arabidopsis. While four types of gene duplication were observed at different frequencies, whole-genome or segmental duplications were the most frequent with 162 genes, followed by 29 dispersed, 14 tandem and 4 proximal, suggesting that segmental duplications contributed substantially to the expansion of both gene families in flax. The rates of non-synonymous to synonymous (Ka/Ks) mutations of paired duplicated genes were mostly less than one, indicative of a predominant purifying selection. Only five pairs of genes clearly exhibited positive selection with a Ka/Ks ratio greater than one. Gene ontology analyses suggested that most flax ABC transporter and HMA genes functioned in ATP binding, transporter, catalytic, ATPase activity, and metal ion binding. The RNA-Seq analysis of eight different organs demonstrated diverse expression profiling patterns of the genes and revealed their functional or subfunctional conservation and neo-functionalization. Conclusion Characterization of the ABC transporter and HMA genes will help in the functional analysis of candidate genes in flax and other crop species.

Flax latitudinal adaptation at LuTFL1 altered architecture and promoted fiber production

After domestication in the Near East around 10,000 years ago several founder crops, flax included, spread to European latitudes. On reaching northerly latitudes the architecture of domesticated flax became more suitable to fiber production over oil, with longer stems, smaller seeds and fewer axillary branches. Latitudinal adaptations in crops typically result in changes in flowering time, often involving the PEBP family of genes that also have the potential to influence plant architecture. Two PEBP family genes in the flax genome, LuTFL1 and LuTFL2, vary in wild and cultivated flax over latitudinal range with cultivated flax receiving LuTFL1 alleles from northerly wild flax populations. Compared to a background of population structure of flaxes over latitude, the LuTFL1 alleles display a level of differentiation that is consistent with selection for an allele III in the north. We demonstrate through heterologous expression in Arabidopsis thaliana that LuTFL1 is a functional homolog of TFL1 in A. thaliana capable of changing both flowering time and plant architecture. We conclude that specialized fiber flax types could have formed as a consequence of a natural adaptation of cultivated flax to higher latitudes.

Computational prediction of candidate miRNAs and their targets from the completed Linum ussitatissimum genome and EST database

Flax is an important agronomic crop grown for its fiber (linen) and oil (linseed oil). In spite of many thousands of years of breeding some fiber varieties have been shown to rapidly respond to environmental stress with heritable changes to its genome. Many miRNAs appear to be induced by abiotic or biotic conditions experienced through the plant life cycle. Computational miRNA analysis of the flax genome provides a foundation for subsequent research on miRNA function in <em>Linum usitatissimum </em>and may also provide novel insight into any regulatory role the RNAi pathway may play in generating adaptive structural variation in response to environmental stress. Here a bioinformatics approach is used to screen for miRNAs previously identified in other plant species, as well as to predict putative miRNAs unique to a particular species which may not have been identified as they are less abundant or dependent upon a specific set of environmental conditions. Twelve miRNA genes were identified in flax on the basis of unique pre-miRNA positions with structural homology to plant pre-miRNAs and complete sequence homology to published plant miRNAs. These miRNAs were found to belong to 7 miRNA families, with an additional 2 matches corresponding to as yet unnamed poplar miRNAs and a parologous miRNA with partial sequence homology to mtr-miR4414b. An additional 649 novel and distinct flax miRNA genes were identified to form from canonical hairpin structures and to have putative targets among the ~30,000 flax Unigenes.