Abstract
Aquaporins (AQPs) are known to have a vital role in water transport in all living organisms including agriculturally important crops, but a comprehensive genomic study of AQPs in pepper has not been implemented. Here, we updated previous gene annotations and generated a total of 259 AQP genes from five plants, including pepper. Phylogenetic and motif analyses revealed that a large proportion of pepper AQP genes belong to the specific subgroup of tonoplast intrinsic protein (TIP) subfamily, TIP4. Chromosomal localization and estimated duplication times illustrated that genes in TIP4 formed a tandem array on the short arm of chromosome 1, resulting from pepper-specific expansion after its divergence with Solanaceae species. Transcriptome analyses under various abiotic stress conditions revealed that transport-, photosystem-, and thylakoid-related genes were generally enriched in expression clusters containing AQP genes in pepper. These results provide valuable genomic resources and insight into the evolutionary mechanism that generate genomic diversity of the AQP gene family in pepper.
Highlights
Aquaporins (AQPs) are small transmembrane proteins (21–34 KDa) from a large family of major intrinsic proteins (MIPs) that facilitate the movement of water, glycerol, and small molecules such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) through biological membranes [1,2]
The AQP gene family in plants is classified into five major subfamilies: plasma membrane intrinsic proteins (PIPs), tonoplast intrinsic proteins (TIPs), NOD26-like intrinsic proteins (NIPs), small basic intrinsic proteins (SIPs), and uncategorized X intrinsic proteins (XIPs) [6]
With chromosomal localization, that 52% of the pepper AQP genes in the TIP4 subgroup clustered in the short arm of chromosome 1
Summary
Aquaporins (AQPs) are small transmembrane proteins (21–34 KDa) from a large family of major intrinsic proteins (MIPs) that facilitate the movement of water, glycerol, and small molecules such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) through biological membranes [1,2]. The AQP gene family is responsible for the selective transport of water and regulates the response to abiotic stresses such as drought and saline conditions [3]. Aquaporins typically have six transmembrane α-helices (H1 to H6) that are connected by five spiral loops (LA-LE). The AQP gene family in plants is classified into five major subfamilies: plasma membrane intrinsic proteins (PIPs), tonoplast intrinsic proteins (TIPs), NOD26-like intrinsic proteins (NIPs), small basic intrinsic proteins (SIPs), and uncategorized X intrinsic proteins (XIPs) [6]
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