Abstract
Ammonium transporters (AMTs) are plasma membrane proteins that exclusively transport ammonium/ammonia. These proteins are encoded by an ancient gene family with many members. The molecular characteristics and evolutionary history of AMTs in woody plants are still poorly understood. We comprehensively evaluated the AMT gene family in the latest release of the Populus trichocarpa genome (version 3.0; Phytozome 9.0), and identified 16 AMT genes. These genes formed four clusters; AMT1 (7 genes), AMT2 (2 genes), AMT3 (2 genes), and AMT4 (5 genes). Evolutionary analyses suggested that the Populus AMT gene family has expanded via whole-genome duplication events. Among the 16 AMT genes, 15 genes are located on 11 chromosomes of Populus. Expression analyses showed that 14 AMT genes were vegetative organs expressed; AMT1;1/1;3/1;6/3;2 and AMT1;1/1;2/2;2/3;1 had high transcript accumulation level in the leaves and roots, respectively and strongly changes under the nitrogen-dependent experiments. The results imply the functional roles of AMT genes in ammonium absorption in poplar.
Highlights
For most higher plant species, the main sources of nitrogen are ammonium (NH+4 ), nitrate (NO−3 ), and amino acids, which are present in the soil as organic and inorganic complexes and compounds (Williams and Miller, 2001)
We investigated the evolution and transcription profiles of Populus Ammonium transporters (AMTs) genes by describing the expanded AMT gene family consisting of 16 genes, which were dentified in the latest release of the P. trichocarpa genome, analyzing the phylogeny, gene structure, conserved domain, and genome location
We found 2 new AMT genes in Populus (PtrAMT1;7/3;2)
Summary
For most higher plant species, the main sources of nitrogen are ammonium (NH+4 ), nitrate (NO−3 ), and amino acids, which are present in the soil as organic and inorganic complexes and compounds (Williams and Miller, 2001). The biochemical properties of proteins encoded by AMT1 cluster genes, and the related regulation mechanisms were reported in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana (Loqué et al, 2007; Yuan et al, 2007, 2009, 2013; Lanquar et al, 2009). The proteins encoded by AMT1 cluster genes have a highaffinity NH+4 -transport function.
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