In silico Analysis of Acyl-CoA-Binding Protein Expression in Soybean.

Nur Syifaq Azlan,Hon-Ming Lam,Mee-Len Chye,Ze-Hua Guo,Zhili Wang,Wai-Shing Yung,Shiu-Cheung Lung

doi:10.3389/fpls.2021.646938

Nur Syifaq Azlan, Hon-Ming Lam + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.646938

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Abstract

Plant acyl-CoA-binding proteins (ACBPs) form a highly conserved protein family that binds to acyl-CoA esters as well as other lipid and protein interactors to function in developmental and stress responses. This protein family had been extensively studied in non-leguminous species such as Arabidopsis thaliana (thale cress), Oryza sativa (rice), and Brassica napus (oilseed rape). However, the characterization of soybean (Glycine max) ACBPs, designated GmACBPs, has remained unreported although this legume is a globally important crop cultivated for its high oil and protein content, and plays a significant role in the food and chemical industries. In this study, 11 members of the GmACBP family from four classes, comprising Class I (small), Class II (ankyrin repeats), Class III (large), and Class IV (kelch motif), were identified. For each class, more than one copy occurred and their domain architecture including the acyl-CoA-binding domain was compared with Arabidopsis and rice. The expression profile, tertiary structure and subcellular localization of each GmACBP were predicted, and the similarities and differences between GmACBPs and other plant ACBPs were deduced. A potential role for some Class III GmACBPs in nodulation, not previously encountered in non-leguminous ACBPs, has emerged. Interestingly, the sole member of Class III ACBP in each of non-leguminous Arabidopsis and rice had been previously identified in plant-pathogen interactions. As plant ACBPs are known to play important roles in development and responses to abiotic and biotic stresses, the in silico expression profiles on GmACBPs, gathered from data mining of RNA-sequencing and microarray analyses, will lay the foundation for future studies in their applications in biotechnology.

Highlights

Soybean (Glycine max) is one of the most important global grain crops and plays a very prominent role in the food industry, because of its high protein (∼40%) and oil content in its seeds (∼20%) (Assefa et al, 2019)
Conserved domains used in the classification of plant acyl-CoA-binding proteins (ACBPs), 1https://www.soybase.org/ 2http://bar.utoronto.ca/efpsoybean/cgi-bin/efpWeb.cgi 3https://phytozome.jgi.doe.gov/pz/portal.html namely the acyl-CoA-binding domain, ankyrin-repeat domain and kelch motif in GmACBP protein sequences were identified by performing an NCBI protein BLAST search4 together with the ACBP protein sequences of Arabidopsis and Oryza sativa
Eleven identified GmACBPs were grouped by protein sequence alignment into four classes, based on domain architecture and molecular mass following the classification of the Arabidopsis and rice homologs (Figure 1)

Summary

Introduction

Soybean (Glycine max) is one of the most important global grain crops and plays a very prominent role in the food industry, because of its high protein (∼40%) and oil content in its seeds (∼20%) (Assefa et al, 2019). Soybean oil accounted for 362 of 596 million metric tons of total global oilseed production (George, 2021). The production of soybean meal processed from soybean as a nutritious proteinrich food for livestock and poultry (Pantalone, 2012) totals 246.05 million metric tons globally (Soybean meal: world supply and demand, 2020). Water availability is especially crucial during the reproductive stage, at seed filling (Desclaux et al, 2000), when seeds accumulate reserves of carbohydrate, protein and lipids (Goldberg et al, 1989). Reduction in soybean seed oil along with decrease in the percentages of linoleic and linolenic acids was reported, compromising on the quality of the seed oil (Dornbos and Mullen, 1991)

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