Genome-Wide Identification and Characterisation of Cytokinin-O-Glucosyltransferase (CGT) Genes of Rice Specific to Potential Pathogens

Abstract

Cytokinin glucosyltransferases (CGTs) are key enzymes of plants for regulating the level and function of cytokinins. In a genomic identification of rice CGTs, 41 genes with the plant secondary product glycosyltransferases (PSPG) motif of 44-amino-acid consensus sequence characteristic of plant uridine diphosphate (UDP)-glycosyltransferases (UGTs) were identified. In-silico physicochemical characterisation revealed that, though the CGTs belong to the same subfamily, they display varying molecular weights, ranging from 19.6 kDa to 59.7 kDa. The proteins were primarily acidic (87.8%) and hydrophilic (58.6%) and were observed to be distributed in the plastids (16), plasma membrane (13), mitochondria (5), and cytosol (4). Phylogenetic analysis of the CGTs revealed that their evolutionary relatedness ranged from 70–100%, and they aligned themselves into two major clusters. In a comprehensive analysis of the available transcriptomics data of rice samples representing different growth stages only the CGT, Os04g25440.1 was significantly expressed at the vegetative stage, whereas 16 other genes were highly expressed only at the reproductive growth stage. On the contrary, six genes, LOC_Os07g30610.1, LOC_Os04g25440.1, LOC_Os07g30620.1, LOC_Os04g25490.1, LOC_Os04g37820.1, and LOC_Os04g25800.1, were significantly upregulated in rice plants inoculated with Rhizoctonia solani (RS), Xoo (Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae) and Mor (Magnaporthe oryzae). In a qRT-PCR analysis of rice sheath tissue susceptible to Rhizoctonia solani, Mor, and Xoo pathogens, compared to the sterile distilled water control, at 24 h post-infection only two genes displayed significant upregulation in response to all the three pathogens: LOC_Os07g30620.1 and LOC_Os04g25820.1. On the other hand, the expression of genes LOC_Os07g30610.1, LOC_Os04g25440, LOC_Os04g25490, and LOC_Os04g25800 were observed to be pathogen-specific. These genes were identified as the candidate-responsive CGT genes and could serve as potential susceptibility genes for facilitating pathogen infection.

Genome-Wide Analysis and Identification of UDP Glycosyltransferases Responsive to Chinese Wheat Mosaic Virus Resistance in Nicotiana benthamiana

“…These two groups have been found in wheat, as well [54]. In N. benthamiana, 81.63% of the NbUGTs did not contain any introns or contained only one intron, which is consistent with the number of UGT gene introns in tomato, rice, and cotton [51,53,55]. In this study, the website (http://cello.life.nctu.edu.tw/cello.html, accessed on 16 September 2022) was used to predict that these NbUGT genes were primarily located in the cytoplasm, whereas the UGT genes of wheat were mostly located in the cytoplasm, cell membrane, and chloroplast [54], and the UGT genes of cotton were mostly located in the cytosol and chloroplast [56].…”

“…However, most reports focused on the identification of UGT genes and their role in plant growth and development, fruit quality, or adaptation to abiotic stress [ 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 ]. In-depth studies have been conducted on some model crops, such as rice, Arabidopsis thaliana , tomato, and the phenomenon and mechanism of some UGT genes responding to pathogens have been elucidated [ 55 , 65 , 66 ]. However, the relationship between most UGT genes in plants and pathogens, especially viruses, remains unclear.…”

Genome Wide Association Studies on 7 Yield-related Traits of 183 Rice Varieties in Bangladesh

“…Exploring the SNPs near the GWAS hit of chromosome 10, we found LOC Os10g09990 which encodes cytokinin-O-glucosyltransferase 3 (CGT) and previous GWA studies have shown that CGT genes have significance in grain maturity [55]. Other notable genes in that region are LOC Os10g10080 (exostosin family domain), LOC Os10g10040 (cytochrome P450), LOC Os10g10030 (OsWAK receptor-like protein kinase) as previous studies have shown their involvement in grain yield [56–58].…”

Identification of a new phytotoxic compound from culture filtrates of an aggressive Rhizoctonia solani AG 1A isolate inducing sheath blight of rice

“…KX230436) and RIRS‐17 (GenBank No. KX230437) exhibit maximum and minimum aggressiveness for ShB development on a susceptible cultivar, PB‐1 [39]. The fungus was subcultured onto fresh potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium at 28 ± 2 ° C, and a pure culture was obtained by the standard single hyphal tip method.…”