Genome-wide identification of BURP domain-containing genes in rice reveals a gene family with diverse structures and responses to abiotic stresses

Abstract

Increasing evidence suggests that a gene family encoding proteins containing BURP domains have diverse functions in plants, but systematic characterization of this gene family have not been reported. In this study, 17 BURP family genes (OsBURP01-17) were identified and analyzed in rice (Oryza sativa L.). These genes have diverse exon-intron structures and distinct organization of putative motifs. Based on the phylogenetic analysis of BURP protein sequences from rice and other plant species, the BURP family was classified into seven subfamilies, including two subfamilies (BURP V and BURP VI) with members from rice only and one subfamily (BURP VII) with members from monocotyledons only. Two BURP gene clusters, belonging to BURP V and BURP VI, were located in the duplicated region on chromosome 5 and 6 of rice, respectively. Transcript level analysis of BURP genes of rice in various tissues and organs revealed different tempo-spatial expression patterns, suggesting that these genes may function at different stages of plant growth and development. Interestingly, all the genes of the BURP VII subfamily were predominantly expressed in flower organs. We also investigated the expression patterns of BURP genes of rice under different stress conditions. The results suggested that, except for two genes (OsBURP01 and OsBURP13), all other members were induced by at least one of the stresses including drought, salt, cold, and abscisic acid treatment. Two genes (OsBURP05 and OsBURP16) were responsive to all the stress treatments and most of the OsBURP genes were responsive to salt stress. Promoter sequence analysis revealed an over-abundance of stress-related cis-elements in the stress-responsive genes. The data presented here provide important clues for elucidating the functions of genes of this family.

Genetic factors underlying boron toxicity tolerance in rice: genome-wide association study and transcriptomic analysis

“…Four genes fulfilled this criterion: (i) lysine ketoglutarate reductase trans-splicing related 1 (LOC_Os05g01760), which could be involved in transcriptional programs regulating plant amino acid metabolism in response to abiotic stress (Less and Galili, 2008); (ii) OsHIPP35 (LOC_Os10g30450), which forms part of the family of heavy metal-associated isoprenylated plant proteins involved in heavy metal detoxification and transcriptional responses (de Abreu-Neto et al , 2013); (iii) a BURP domain-containing protein (LOC_Os05g13490), which forms part of a largely uncharacterized gene family with multiple putative roles in rice including stress response (Ding et al , 2009); and (iv) a starch synthase (LOC_Os10g30156), which is involved in the foliar build-up of storage carbohydrates (Lloyd and Kossmann, 2015). Based on transcriptional regulation, their putative functions, and polymorphisms, which seemed to affect boron toxicity tolerance in rice (Supplementary Tables S9–S11), these genes appear as interesting candidates for further investigations.…”

Insight into Differential Responses of Upland and Paddy Rice to Drought Stress by Comparative Expression Profiling Analysis

“…All eight correlation coefficients between biological replicates were greater than 0.99, indicating high quality of the sample preparation and gene chip hybridization (Figure S1). Second, we checked the expression levels of many previously reported drought-responsive genes, including OsBURP03 , which encodes an RD22-like protein and is induced by drought stress [21]. All of them were upregulated in this experiment, suggesting that the drought treatment was successful.…”

Expression of a Vacuole-Localized BURP-Domain Protein from Soybean (SALI3-2) Enhances Tolerance to Cadmium and Copper Stresses

“…A number of BURP genes have been identified. In addition to those genes that were sporadically isolated in special tissues, developmental stages or conditions [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], 5 members in Arabidopsis thaliana [9], 17 in Oryza sativa L. [10], 23 in Glycine max [11], 15 in Zea mays , 11 in Sorghum vulgare [12] and 18 in Populus trichocarpa [13] were identified genome-widely. The expression of these genes exhibits different temporal and spatial profiles [7], [10], and some of them can be regulated by various stress treatments [10], [11], [14], suggesting that BURP genes might play diverse roles in plant development and stress responses.…”