Genome-wide comprehensive characterization and expression analysis of TLP gene family revealed its responses to hormonal and abiotic stresses in watermelon (Citrullus lanatus)

• Published in: Gene Vol. 844; p. 146818
• Main Authors: Ram, Chet, Danish, Shagufta, Kesawat, Mahipal Singh, Panwar, Bhupendra Singh, Verma, Manjusha, Arya, Lalit, Yadav, Sheel, Sharma, Vedprakash
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 30.11.2022
• Subjects: ABA; Abiotic stresses; Gene expression; Phylogenetic analysis; Thaumatin-like protein; ABA; FF; Abiotic stresses; SRA; C; ns(K); kDa; FR; Thaumatin-like protein; ds; Phylogenetic analysis; MeJ; ClaTLP; U; IDT; TLP; pI; GSDS; cDNA; PYF; ns(N); PEG6000; ss; CREs; b; os; h; HMM; MW; Gene expression; μl; semi-qRT-PCR; cs; PR5; RF; NaCl; µM
• ISSN: 0378-1119; 1879-0038
• DOI: 10.1016/j.gene.2022.146818

•First comprehensive report to highlight identification of TLP genes in watermelon.•The gene duplication events highlight the evolution of TLP gene family in watermelon.•The phylogenetic analysis revealed the 9 clustering of ClaTLP gene family.•The ClaTLP gene family exhibited tissue-specific and abiotic stress responsive gene expression in watermelon.•The study contributes to understand the stress tolerant mechanism in watermelon. Thaumatin-like protein (TLP) is the well-known sweetest protein which plays a crucial role in diverse developmental processes and different stress conditions in plants, fungi and animals. The TLP gene family is extensively studied in different plant species including crop plants. Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) is an important cucurbit crop cultivated worldwide; however, the comprehensive information about the TLP gene family is not available in watermelon. In the present study, we identified the 29 TLP genes as gene family members in watermelon using various computational methods to understand its role in different developmental processes and stress conditions. ClaTLP gene family members were not uniformly distributed on 22 chromosomes. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the ClaTLP gene family members were grouped into 10 sub-groups. Further, gene duplication analysis showed thirteen gene duplication events which included one tandem and twelve segmental duplications. Amino acid sequence alignment has shown that ClaTLP proteins shared 16 conserved cysteine residues in their THN domain. Furthermore, cis-acting regulatory elements analysis also displayed that ClaTLP gene family members contain diverse phytohormone, various defense, and stress-responsive elements in their promoter region. The expression profile of the ClaTLP gene family revealed the differential expression of gene family members in different tissues and abiotic stresses conditions. Moreover, the expression profile of ClaTLP genes was further validated by semi-quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR. Taken together, these results indicate that ClaTLP genes might play an important role in developmental processes and diverse stress conditions. Therefore, the outcome of this study brings forth the valuable information for further interpret the precise role of ClaTLP gene family members in watermelon.