Abstract
The type 2C protein which belongs to the major group of protein phosphatases (PP2C) plays a vital role in abscisic acid (ABA) signaling and signal transductions processes. In the present study, 131 PP2C genes were identified in total in Brassica rapa and categorized into thirteen subgroups based on their phylogenetic relationships. These B. rapa PP2C are structurally conserved based on amino acid sequence alignment, phylogenetic analysis, and conserved domains. Moreover, we utilized previously reported RNA-sequence data on various tissues (root, stem, leaf, flower, and silique), which suggests overlapping expression pattern in 29 paralogous gene pairs. The qRT-PCR validation of 15 paralogous gene pairs depicts distinct expression patterns in response to various abiotic stresses, such as heat, cold, ABA, and drought. Interestingly, stress-responsive BraPP2C candidate genes were also identified, suggesting their significance in stress-tolerance mechanism in B. rapa. The evolutionary analysis for 15 paralogous gene pairs suggested that only three pairs have the positive selection and remaining were purifying in nature. The presented results of this study hasten our understanding of the molecular evolution of the PP2C gene family in B. rapa. Thus, it will be ultimately helping in future research for facilitating the functional characterization of BraPP2C genes in developing the abiotic stress tolerant plants.
Highlights
In cellular signaling, the reversible protein phosphorylation catalyzed by protein kinases (PKs) and phosphatases (PPs) is known to participate in critical processes [1]
We identified 131 putative BraPP2C genes in B. rapa genome and were denoted as BraPP2C1 to BraPP2C131, based on phylogenetic analysis and their orthologous positions with Arabidopsis
Majority of BraPP2C genes consisted of only one exon; the rest of others showed significant variations, whereas BraPP2C32 possesses 19 exons, suggesting that both exon loss and gain occurred in BraPP2C gene family
Summary
The reversible protein phosphorylation catalyzed by protein kinases (PKs) and phosphatases (PPs) is known to participate in critical processes [1]. From prokaryotes to higher eukaryotes, the PP2C are evolutionarily conserved and mostly found in archaea, bacteria, fungi, plants, and animals [3, 4] It acts as a negative modulator of PKs cascades activated and implicated in regulating stress-signaling pathways. Several studies highlighted the importance of PP2C that may play pivotal roles in various processes, including both biotic-abiotic stress factors and plant development [13, 14]. The two PP2C genes encoding ABA-insensitive mutants (abi and abi2-1) are known to partake in the various physiological processes after exposure to abiotic stimuli, including salt, drought, and freezing [21,22,23,24]. For a better understanding of protein phosphatases and their functional significance, the identification of PP2C provides a stepping stone in stresssignaling pathways
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