Abstract
ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter proteins are a gene super-family in plants and play vital roles in growth, development, and response to abiotic and biotic stresses. The ABC transporters have been identified in crop plants such as rice and buckwheat, but little is known about them in soybean. Soybean is an important oil crop and is one of the five major crops in the world. In this study, 255 ABC genes that putatively encode ABC transporters were identified from soybean through bioinformatics and then categorized into eight subfamilies, including 7 ABCAs, 52 ABCBs, 48 ABCCs, 5 ABCDs, 1 ABCEs, 10 ABCFs, 111 ABCGs, and 21 ABCIs. Their phylogenetic relationships, gene structure, and gene expression profiles were characterized. Segmental duplication was the main reason for the expansion of the GmABC genes. Ka/Ks analysis suggested that intense purifying selection was accompanied by the evolution of GmABC genes. The genome-wide collinearity of soybean with other species showed that GmABCs were relatively conserved and that collinear ABCs between species may have originated from the same ancestor. Gene expression analysis of GmABCs revealed the distinct expression pattern in different tissues and diverse developmental stages. The candidate genes GmABCB23, GmABCB25, GmABCB48, GmABCB52, GmABCI1, GmABCI5, and GmABCI13 were responsive to Al toxicity. This work on the GmABC gene family provides useful information for future studies on ABC transporters in soybean and potential targets for the cultivation of new germplasm resources of aluminum-tolerant soybean.
Highlights
Accepted: 15 June 2021ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters are an ancient and huge transmembrane protein family that widely exist in natural organisms, and they have attracted extensive attention due to their diverse biological functions
GmABCprotein protein sequences were identified in the genome of soybean classified into eight subfamilies
GmABCA1-GmABCA7, and classified into eight subfamilies. These genes were denoted as GmABCA1GmABCB1-GmABCB52, GmABCC1-GmABCC48, GmABCD1-GmABCD5, GmABCE1, GmABCF1GmABCA7, GmABCB1-GmABCB52, GmABCC1-GmABCC48, GmABCD1-GmABCD5, GmABCF10, GmABCG1-GmABCG111, and GmABCI1-GmABCI21,and according to their position
Summary
ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters are an ancient and huge transmembrane protein family that widely exist in natural organisms, and they have attracted extensive attention due to their diverse biological functions. ABC proteins release energy mainly by binding and hydrolyzing ATP, leading to conformational changes of proteins, realizing the transmembrane transport of a wide array of substrates, including carbohydrates, lipids, peptides, terpenes, cell metabolites, heavy metal chelates, and metal ions [1]. ABC transporters generally contain two domains: hydrophobic transmembrane domains (TMDs) containing four to six transmembrane helices and nucleotide-binding domains (NBDs) containing several highly conserved characteristic motifs, such as Walker. TMDs serve as recognition agents and channels for substrate transport lipid bilayers, whereas NBDs provide energy for substrate transport or non-transport processes through ATP binding and ATP hydrolysis. The number of ABC transporter genes identified in plants is much higher than that of animals and microorganisms [3]
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