Genome-wide identification, characterization and expression analysis of the BMP family associated with beak-like teeth in Oplegnathus

Yuting Ma; Yongshuang Xiao; Zhizhong Xiao; Yanduo Wu; Haixia Zhao; Guang Gao; Lele Wu; Tao Wang; Ning Zhao; Jun Li

doi:10.3389/fgene.2022.938473

Genome-wide identification, characterization and expression analysis of the BMP family associated with beak-like teeth in Oplegnathus

Front Genet. 2022 Jul 18:13:938473. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2022.938473. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Yuting Ma^{1

2}, Yongshuang Xiao^{2

3

4}, Zhizhong Xiao^{2

3

4

5

6}, Yanduo Wu^{2

5}, Haixia Zhao^{2

5}, Guang Gao^{2

5}, Lele Wu^{2

5}, Tao Wang^{1

2}, Ning Zhao^{2

5}, Jun Li^{2

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ School of Marine Science and Engineering, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, China.
² CAS and Shandong Province Key Laboratory of Experimental Marine Biology, Center for Ocean Mega-Science, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, China.
³ Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), Guangzhou, China.
⁴ Laboratory for Marine Biology and Biotechnology, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao, China.
⁵ College of Marine Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
⁶ Weihai Haohuigan Marine Biotechnology Co., Weihai, China.

Abstract

Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), which belong to the transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) family, are critical for the control of developmental processes such as dorsal-ventral axis formation, somite and tooth formation, skeletal development, and limb formation. Despite Oplegnathus having typical healing beak-like teeth and tooth development showing a trend from discrete to healing, the potential role of BMPs in the development of the beak-like teeth is incompletely understood. In the present study, 19 and 16 BMP genes were found in O. fasciatus and O. punctatus, respectively, and divided into the BMP2/4/16, BMP5/6/7/8, BMP9/10, BMP12/13/14, BMP3/15 and BMP11 subfamilies. Similar TGFb and TGF_β gene domains and conserved protein motifs were found in the same subfamily; furthermore, two common tandem repeat genes (BMP9 and BMP3a-1) were identified in both Oplegnathus fasciatus and Oplegnathus punctatus. Selection pressure analysis revealed 13 amino acid sites in the transmembrane region of BMP3, BMP7, and BMP9 proteins of O. fasciatus and O. punctatus, which may be related to the diversity and functional differentiation of genes within the BMP family. The qPCR-based developmental/temporal expression patterns of BMPs showed a trend of high expression at 30 days past hatching (dph), which exactly corresponds to the ossification period of the bones and beak-like teeth in Oplegnathus. Tissue-specific expression was found for the BMP4 gene, which was upregulated in the epithelial and mesenchymal tissues of the beak-like teeth, suggesting that it also plays a regulatory role in the development of the beak-like teeth in O. punctatus. Our investigation not only provides a scientific basis for comprehensively understanding the BMP gene family but also helps screen the key genes responsible for beak-like tooth healing in O. punctatus and sheds light on the developmental regulatory mechanism.

Keywords: BMP; Oplegnathus fasciatus; Oplegnathus punctatus; adaptive evolution; gene expression; gene family; tooth development.