Genome-wide identification and expression analysis of the glutamate receptor gene family in sweet potato and its two diploid relatives

Yaya Hu; Zhuoru Dai; Jinan Huang; Meikun Han; Zhiwei Wang; Weijing Jiao; Zhiyuan Gao; Xinliang Liu; Lanfu Liu; Zhimin Ma

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1255805

Genome-wide identification and expression analysis of the glutamate receptor gene family in sweet potato and its two diploid relatives

Front Plant Sci. 2023 Dec 21:14:1255805. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1255805. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yaya Hu^#¹, Zhuoru Dai^#², Jinan Huang^#¹, Meikun Han¹, Zhiwei Wang³, Weijing Jiao¹, Zhiyuan Gao¹, Xinliang Liu⁴, Lanfu Liu¹, Zhimin Ma¹

Affiliations

¹ Hebei Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Breeding, Institute of Cereal and Oil Crops, Hebei Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, China.
² Key Laboratory of Sweet Potato Biology and Biotechnology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Agronomy & Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.
³ Department of Agriculture Forestry and Biological Engineering, Baoding Vocational and Technical College, Baoding, Hebei, China.
⁴ School of Life Sciences, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Plant glutamate receptor (GLR) homologs are crucial calcium channels that play an important role in plant development, signal transduction, and response to biotic and abiotic stresses. However, the GLR gene family has not yet been thoroughly and systematically studied in sweet potato. In this study, a total of 37 GLR genes were identified in the cultivated hexaploid sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), and 32 GLR genes were discovered in each of the two diploid relatives (Ipomoea trifida and Ipomoea triloba) for the first time. Based on their evolutionary relationships to those of Arabidopsis, these GLRs were split into five subgroups. We then conducted comprehensive analysis to explore their physiological properties, protein interaction networks, promoter cis-elements, chromosomal placement, gene structure, and expression patterns. The results indicate that the homologous GLRs of the cultivated hexaploid sweet potato and its two relatives are different. These variations are reflected in their functions related to plant growth, hormonal crosstalk, development of tuberous roots, resistance to root rot, and responses to abiotic stress factors, all of which are governed by specific individual GLR genes. This study offers a comprehensive analysis of GLR genes in sweet potato and its two diploid relatives. It also provides a theoretical basis for future research into their regulatory mechanisms, significantly influencing the field of molecular breeding in sweet potatoes.

Keywords: Ipomoea trifida; Ipomoea triloba; abiotic stress; glutamate receptor; root rot stress; sweet potato; tissue-specific expression.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32301957), the China Agriculture Research System (CARS-10-Sweetpotato), the Basic Research Funds of Hebei Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences (2021060207), the Key Research and Development Project of Hebei Province (22322911D), the Modern Agriculture Industrial Technology System Innovation Team Project of Hebei Province (HBCT2023060202), and the HAAFS Science and Technology Innovation Special Project (2022KJCXZX-LYS-12). The funding bodies were not involved in the design of the study, in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data or in writing the manuscript.