Genome-wide analysis of sugar transporter genes in maize (Zea mays L.): identification, characterization and their expression profiles during kernel development

Nan Sun; Yanfeng Liu; Tao Xu; Xiaoyan Zhou; Heyang Xu; Hongxia Zhang; Renhui Zhan; Limin Wang

doi:10.7717/peerj.16423

Genome-wide analysis of sugar transporter genes in maize (Zea mays L.): identification, characterization and their expression profiles during kernel development

PeerJ. 2023 Nov 17:11:e16423. doi: 10.7717/peerj.16423. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Nan Sun^#^{1

2}, Yanfeng Liu^#^{1

2}, Tao Xu^{1

3}, Xiaoyan Zhou^{1

3}, Heyang Xu^{1

3}, Hongxia Zhang^{1

2}, Renhui Zhan⁴, Limin Wang^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ The Engineering Research Institute of Agriculture and Forestry, Ludong University, Yantai, Shandong, China.
² Zhaoyuan Shenghui Agricultural Technology Development Co., Ltd., Zhaoyuan, Shandong, China.
³ College of Agriculture, Ludong University, Yantai, Shandong, China.
⁴ School of Pharmacy, Shandong Technology Innovation Center of Molecular Targeting and Intelligent Diagnosis and Treatment, Binzhou Medical University, Yantai, Shandong, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Sugar transporters (STs) play a crucial role in the development of maize kernels. However, very limited information about STs in maize is known. In this study, sixty-eight ZmST genes were identified from the maize genome and classified into eight major groups based on phylogenetic relationship. Gene structure analysis revealed that members within the same group shared similar exon numbers. Synteny analysis indicated that ZmSTs underwent 15 segmental duplication events under purifying selection. Three-dimensional structure of ZmSTs demonstrated the formation of a compact helix bundle composed of 8-13 trans-membrane domains. Various development-related cis-acting elements, enriched in promoter regions, were correlated with the transcriptional response of ZmSTs during kernel development. Transcriptional expression profiles exhibited expression diversity of various ZmST genes in roots, stems, leaves, tassels, cobs, embryos, endosperms and seeds tissues. During kernel development, the expression of 24 ZmST genes was significantly upregulated in the early stage of grain filling. This upregulation coincided with the sharply increased grain-filling rate observed in the early stage. Overall, our findings shed light on the characteristics of ZmST genes in maize and provide a foundation for further functional studies.

Keywords: Gene expression; Gene family; Phylogenetic analysis; Sugar transporters; Zea mays.

MeSH terms

Genome, Plant / genetics
Phylogeny
Plant Proteins* / genetics
Sugars / metabolism
Zea mays* / genetics

Substances

Plant Proteins
Sugars

Grants and funding

This work has been jointly supported by the following grants: The Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province, China (ZR2020QC115, ZR2019PC015); The National Natural Science Foundation of China (31901572, 32071733); The Cooperation Project of University and Local Enterprise in Yantai of Shandong Province (2021XDRHXMPT09); the Modern Agricultural Industry Technology System Innovation Team of Shandong Province of China (SDAIT-02-05) and the Double-Hundred Talents Project of Yantai City. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.