Evolutionary significance of amino acid permease transporters in 17 plants from Chlorophyta to Angiospermae

Abstract

Background: Nitrogen is an indispensable nutrient for plant growth. It is used and transported in the form of amino acids in living organisms. Transporting amino acids to various parts of plants requires relevant transport proteins, such as amino acid permeases (AAPs), which were our focus in this study. Results: We found that 5 AAP genes were present in Chlorophyte species and more AAP genes were predicted in Bryophyta and Lycophytes. Two main groups were defined and group I comprised 5 clades. Our phylogenetic analysis indicated that the origin of clades 2, 3, and 4 is Gymnospermae and that these clades are closely related. The members of clade 1 included Chlorophyta to Gymnospermae. Group II, as a new branch consisting of non-seed plants, is first proposed in our research. Our results also indicated that the AAP family was already present in Chlorophyta and then expanded accompanying the development of vasculature. Concurrently, the AAP family experienced multiple duplication events that promoted the generation of new functions and differentiation of sub-functions. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the AAP gene originated in Chlorophyta, and some non-seed AAP genes clustered in one group. A second group, which contained plants of all evolutionary stages, indicated the evolution of AAPs. These new findings can be used to guide future research.

A transporter of 1‐aminocyclopropane‐1‐carboxylic acid affects thallus growth and fertility in Marchantia polymorpha

“…Predicted amino acid transporter sequences (Chang et al ., 2004; Tegeder & Ward, 2012) were assembled from land plants, charophytes and chlorophytes, with representative taxa sampled as follows – angiosperms: Arabidopsis thaliana (http://www.arabidopsis.org), Amborella trichopoda (Albert et al ., 2013); gymnosperms: Picea abies (Nystedt et al ., 2013); ferns: Azolla filiculoides (Li et al ., 2018); lycophytes: Selaginella moellendorffii (Banks et al ., 2011); hornworts: Anthoceros agrestis , Anthoceros punctatus (F. W. Li et al ., 2020; C. Zhang et al ., 2020); mosses: Physcomitrium patens (Rensing et al ., 2008), liverworts: M. polymorpha (Bowman et al ., 2017); Zygnematophyceae: Mesotaenium enlicherianum , Spirogloea muscicola (Cheng et al ., 2019), Spirogyra pratensis (Cooper & Delwiche, 2016); Colecochaetaceae: Coleochaete orbicularis (Cooper & Delwiche, 2016); Klebsormidiaceae: Klebsormidium nitens (Hori et al ., 2014). Additional charophyte sequences from available transcriptomes were sometimes included (Ju et al ., 2015; Cooper & Delwiche, 2016).…”

Evolutionary Significance of RAV Family in 25 Plants from Chlorophyta to Angiospermae

“…While for the most part exons numbered 1-3, and in C. rubella, CbRAV4 contained 11 exons, which was obviously different from other genes (Additional le 1a). Generally, the number of exons of the same family member in any plant is relatively stable, and is not related to the length of the sequence [23]. Most proteins had two main domains: B3 and AP2, except for CbRAV4 in C. rubella, which had an extra MetAP1 domain (Additional le 1c).…”

“…Each protein had and only had both B3 and AP2 domains, except CbRAV4 which had an extra domain: MetAP1. Additionally, A complete gene sequence consists of exons and introns, and exons, as part of the coding sequence, take an crucial part in gene function [23]. The RAV members of P. abies had 1-3 exons.…”