Abstract
The ankyrin (ANK) repeat protein family is largely distributed across plants and has been found to participate in multiple processes such as plant growth and development, hormone response, response to biotic and abiotic stresses. It is considered as one of the major markers of capsaicin content in pepper fruits. In this study, we performed a genome-wide identification and expression analysis of genes encoding ANK proteins in three Capsicum species: Capsicum baccatum, Capsicum annuum and Capsicum chinense. We identified a total of 87, 85 and 96 ANK genes in C. baccatum, C. annuum and C. chinense genomes, respectively. Next, we performed a comprehensive bioinformatics analysis of the Capsicum ANK gene family including gene chromosomal localization, Cis-elements, conserved motif identification, intron/exon structural patterns and gene ontology classification as well as profile expression. Phylogenetic and domain organization analysis grouped the Capsicum ANK gene family into ten subfamilies distributed across all 12 pepper chromosomes at different densities. Analysis of the expression of ANK genes in leaf and pepper fruits suggested that the ANKs have specific expression patterns at various developmental stages in placenta tissue. Our results provide valuable information for further studies of the evolution, classification and putative functions of ANK genes in pepper.
Highlights
The ankyrin (ANK) repeat protein family is largely distributed across plants and has been found to participate in multiple processes such as plant growth and development, hormone response, response to biotic and abiotic stresses
ANK protein sequences were verified by SMART and Pfam analyses
We identified orthologs by a BLASTN strategy with two previously identified capsaicinoid markers (i.e., CA05g18080 and CA11g09160), which were obtained from the Sol Genomics Network database
Summary
The ankyrin (ANK) repeat protein family is largely distributed across plants and has been found to participate in multiple processes such as plant growth and development, hormone response, response to biotic and abiotic stresses It is considered as one of the major markers of capsaicin content in pepper fruits. The ankyrin (ANK) repeat domain is one of the most common conserved protein domains widely distributed in different organisms ranging from viruses to humans[1] This protein domain was identified for the first time in the yeast cell-cycle regulators Swi[6] and Cdc[102] and in the Drosophila melanogaster signaling protein Notch[3]. Www.nature.com/scientificreports drought tolerance[19], ABA-mediated regulation of reactive oxygen species levels under salt-stress[20], and several plant diseases[21], including those generated by fungus such as rice blast[22]
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