Genome-wide identification and evolutionary analysis of the FGF gene family in buffalo

Faiz-Ul Hassan; Tingxian Deng; Muhammad Saif-Ur Rehman; Zia-Ur Rehman; Saad Sarfraz; Muhammad Mushahid; Saif Ur Rehman

doi:10.1080/07391102.2023.2256861

Genome-wide identification and evolutionary analysis of the FGF gene family in buffalo

J Biomol Struct Dyn. 2023 Sep 11:1-12. doi: 10.1080/07391102.2023.2256861. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Faiz-Ul Hassan¹, Tingxian Deng², Muhammad Saif-Ur Rehman¹, Zia-Ur Rehman³, Saad Sarfraz⁴, Muhammad Mushahid¹, Saif Ur Rehman⁵

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Animal Husbandry, Institute of Animal and Dairy Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
² Key Laboratory of Buffalo Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction Technology, Ministry of Agriculture and Guangxi Buffalo Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanning, China.
³ University of Agriculture, Faisalabad-Sub Campus Toba Tek Sing, Pakistan.
⁴ Centre for Agricultural Biochemistry and Biotechnology (CABB), University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
⁵ Department of Reproductive Medicine, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Guangzhou, China.

PMID: 37697717
DOI: 10.1080/07391102.2023.2256861

Abstract

Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) are important polypeptide growth factors that play a critical role in many developmental processes, including differentiation, cell proliferation, and migration in mammals. This study employs in silico analyses to characterize the FGF gene family in buffalo, investigating their genome-wide identification, physicochemical properties, and evolutionary patterns. For this purpose, genomic and proteomic sequences of buffalo, cattle, goat, and sheep were retrieved from NCBI database. We identified a total of 22 FGF genes in buffalo. Physicochemical properties observed through ProtParam tool showed notable features of these proteins including in-vitro instability, thermostability, hydrophilicity, and basic nature. Phylogenetic analysis grouped 22 identified genes into nine sub-families based on evolutionary relationships. Additionally, analysis of gene structure, motif patterns, and conserved domains using TBtools revealed the remarkable conservation of this gene family across selected species throughout the course of evolution. Comparative amino acid analysis performed through ClustalW demonstrated significant conservation between buffalo and cattle FGF proteins. Mutational analysis showed three non-synonymous mutations at positions R103 > G, P7 > L, and E98 > Q in FGF4, FGF6, and FGF19, respectively in buffalo. Duplication events revealed only one segmental duplication (FGF10/FGF22) in buffalo and two in cattle (FGF10/FGF22 and FGF13/FGF13-like) with Ka/Ks values <1 indicating purifying selection pressure for these duplications. Comparison of protein structures of buffalo, goat, and sheep exhibited more similarities in respective structures. In conclusion, our study highlights the conservation of the FGF gene family in buffalo during evolution. Furthermore, the identified non-synonymous mutations may have implications for the selection of animals with better performance.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Keywords: FGF gene family; buffalo; enomic characterization; gene duplications; mutations.