Abstract
Abscisic acid (ABA) is an important plant hormone that plays multiple roles in regulating growth and development as well as in stress responses in plants. The NCED gene family includes key genes involved in the process of ABA synthesis. This gene family has been found in many species; however, the function of the NCED gene family in cotton is unclear. Here, a total of 23 NCED genes (designated as GhNCED1 to GhNCED23) were identified in cotton. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the identified NCED proteins from cotton and Arabidopsis could be classified into 4 subgroups. Conserved motif analysis revealed that the gene structure and motif distribution of proteins within each subgroup were highly conserved. qRT-PCR and ABA content analyses indicated that NCED genes exhibited stage-specific expression patterns at tissue development stages. GhNCED5, GhNCED6 and GhNCED13 expression was similar to the change in ABA content, suggesting that this gene family plays a role in ABA synthesis. These results provide a better understanding of the potential functions of GhNCED genes.
Highlights
Abscisic acid (ABA) plays an important role in the process of plant growth, development and stress tolerance [1]
To identify the NCED gene family of G. hirsutum, we performed BlastP searches against the cotton genomics databases using the NCED domain in Arabidopsis thaliana
The results showed that molecular weights (MWs) exceeded 50 for all the GhNCED genes except for GhNCED14 and GhNCED19
Summary
Abscisic acid (ABA) plays an important role in the process of plant growth, development and stress tolerance [1]. In the C40 pathway, zeaxanthin is converted to violaxanthin by zeaxanthin epoxidase (ZEP) and converted to neoxanthin. Violaxanthin and neoxanthin are cleaved into xanthoxin by catalysis of 9-cisepoxycarotenoiddioxygenase (NCED) [3], and xanthoxin is converted to abscisic aldehyde by short-chain alcohol dehydrogenase (ABA2). 9-Cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase (NCED) has been identified in many plants and is a rate-limiting enzyme for ABA biosynthesis. Research indicated that a slight divergence occurred in the NCED subfamily and the exon position is highly conserved across diverse lineages. A slow evolutionary rate occurred in NCED genes, which might facilitate tissue-specific functional divergence in NCED subfamilies [4]
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