Genome-wide analysis of Family-1 UDP-glycosyltransferases in soybean confirms their abundance and varied expression during seed development

Abstract

Family-1 UDP-glycosyltransferases (EC 2.4.1.x; UGTs) are enzymes that glycosylate aglycones into glycoside-associated compounds with improved transport and water solubility. This glycosylation mechanism is vital to plant functions, such as regulation of hormonal homeostasis, growth and development, xenobiotic detoxification, stress response, and biosynthesis of secondary metabolites. Here, we report a genome-wide analysis of soybean that identified 149 putative UGTs based on 44 conserved plant secondary product glycosyl-transferase (PSPG) motif amino acid sequences. Phylogenetic analysis against 22 referenced UGTs from Arabidopsis and maize clustered the putative UGTs into 15 major groups (A-O); J, K, and N were not represented, but the UGTs were distributed across all chromosomes except chromosome 04. Leucine was the most abundant amino acid across all 149 UGT peptide sequences. Two conserved introns (C1 and C2) were detected in the most intron-containing UGTs. Publicly available microarray data on their maximum expression in the seed developmental stage were further confirmed using Affymetrix soybean IVT array and RNA sequencing data. The UGT expression models were designed, based on reads per kilobase of gene model per million mapped read (RPKM) values confirmed their maximally varied expression at globular and early maturation stages of seed development.