Evolutionary Understanding of Aquaporin Transport System in the Basal Eudicot Model Species Aquilegia coerulea

Abstract

Aquaporins (AQPs) play a pivotal role in the cellular transport of water and many other small solutes, influencing many physiological and developmental processes in plants. In the present study, extensive bioinformatics analysis of AQPs was performed in Aquilegia coerulea L., a model species belonging to basal eudicots, with a particular focus on understanding the AQPs role in the developing petal nectar spur. A total of 29 AQPs were identified in Aquilegia, and their phylogenetic analysis performed with previously reported AQPs from rice, poplar and Arabidopsis depicted five distinct subfamilies of AQPs. Interestingly, comparative analysis revealed the loss of an uncharacterized intrinsic protein II (XIP-II) group in Aquilegia. The absence of the entire XIP subfamily has been reported in several previous studies, however, the loss of a single clade within the XIP family has not been characterized. Furthermore, protein structure analysis of AQPs was performed to understand pore diversity, which is helpful for the prediction of solute specificity. Similarly, an AQP AqcNIP2-1 was identified in Aquilegia, predicted as a silicon influx transporter based on the presence of features such as the G-S-G-R aromatic arginine selectivity filter, the spacing between asparagine-proline-alanine (NPA) motifs and pore morphology. RNA-seq analysis showed a high expression of tonoplast intrinsic proteins (TIPs) and plasma membrane intrinsic proteins (PIPs) in the developing petal spur. The results presented here will be helpful in understanding the AQP evolution in Aquilegia and their expression regulation, particularly during floral development.

Nectary development in Cleome violacea

“…Second, both CvSWEET9 and CvCWINV4 are highly expressed in pre-anthetic and anthetic nectaries ( Table 2 and Figure S2 ). Additionally, we identified 14 highly expressed transcripts that are related to sugar production or water transport, e.g., five of which are related to aquaporins found in Aquilegia ( Singh et al., 2020 ) ( Figure S5 and Table S4 ). Finally, nectar secretion is lessened when CvSWEET9 is completely downregulated ( Figure 10 ).…”

Soybean transporter database: A comprehensive database for identification and exploration of natural variants in soybean transporter genes

“…For example, the transporters involved in boron transmembrane activity (GO:0046715) present in monocots and dicot and are known as essential transporter for all terrestrial plants due to its physiological role in cross‐linking the pectic polysaccharide in land plant cell walls (Miwa & Fujiwara, 2010). The comparative analysis of transporters has been found to be very efficient not only to understand the evolution but also to better understand its functional role in the plants (Deshmukh et al, 2020; Singh et al, 2020).…”

Molecular Advances to Combat Different Biotic and Abiotic Stresses in Linseed (Linum usitatissimum L.): A Comprehensive Review

“…Abiotic stress resistance in various plant species has recently been effectively demonstrated by the application of genes expressing aquaporins. Aquaporins have been discovered in a variety of agricultural plants, including flax, due to their significance [306,307]. A total of 51 AQPs from various subfamilies were found in the flax genome [210].…”