Identification, characterization, and expression profiling of the putative U-box E3 ubiquitin ligase gene family in Sorghum bicolor

• Published in: Frontiers in microbiology Vol. 13; p. 942302
• Main Authors: Fang, Yuanpeng, Du, Qiaoli, Yang, Qian, Jiang, Junmei, Hou, Xiaolong, Yang, Zaifu, Zhao, Degang, Li, Xiangyang, Xie, Xin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A 15.09.2022
• Subjects: abiotic stress; co-regulatory networks; expression pattern; Microbiology; Sorghum bicolor; U-box
• ISSN: 1664-302X; 1664-302X
• DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.942302

The U-box family is one of the main E3 ubiquitin ligase families in plants. The U-box family has been characterized in several species. However, genome-wide gene identification and expression profiling of the U-box family in response to abiotic stress in Sorghum bicolor remain unclear. In this study, we broadly identified 68 U-box genes in the sorghum genome, including 2 CHIP genes, and 1 typical UFD2 (Ub fusion degradation 2) gene. The U-box gene family was divided into eight subclasses based on homology and conserved domain characteristics. Evolutionary analysis identified 14, 66, and 82 U-box collinear gene pairs in sorghum compared with arabidopsis, rice, and maize, respectively, and a unique tandem repeat pair ( SbPUB26 / SbPUB27 ) is present in the sorghum genome. Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis showed that U-box proteins were mainly related to ubiquitination and modification, and various stress responses. Comprehensive analysis of promoters, expression profiling, and gene co-regulation networks also revealed that many sorghum U-box genes may be correlated with multiple stress responses. In summary, our results showed that sorghum contains 68 U-box genes, which may be involved in multiple abiotic stress responses. The findings will support future gene functional studies related to ubiquitination in sorghum.