Chitinase (EC 3.2.1.14) is a kind of chitin-degrading glycosidase, which plays important roles in the abiotic and biotic defense of plants. In this study, we conducted whole-genome annotation, molecular evolution, and gene expression analyses on the chitinase-like (CTL) gene family members of Petunia axillaris. Thirty-three Petunia axillarischitinase-like genes (PaCTLs) were identified from the latest Petunia genome database. According to the phylogenetic analyses, these genes were divided into GH18 and GH19 subgroups and further subdivided into five classes (Class I to Class V). Conserved motif arrangements indicated their functional relevance within each group. The expansion and homeology analyses showed that gene replication events played an important role in the evolution of PaCTLs and the increase of the GH18 subgroup members was the main reason for the expansion of the PaCTL gene family in the evolution progress. By qRT-PCR analysis, we found that most of the PaCTLs showed a very low expression level in the normal growing plants. But lots of PaCTLs showed upregulated expression profiles when the plants suffered different abiotic stress conditions. Among them, five PaCTLs responded to high temperature and exhibited significantly upregulate expression level. Correspondingly, many hormone responses, as well as biotic and abiotic stress elements were found in the promoters of PaCTLs by using cis-acting element analysis. These results provide a foundation for the exploration of PaCTLs' function and enrich the evolutionary process of the CTL gene family.
Keywords: Petunia axillaris; abiotic stress; chitinase-like genes; evolution; gene expression.