The BAHD Gene Family in Cacao (Theobroma cacao, Malvaceae): Genome-Wide Identification and Expression Analysis

Abstract

The benzyl alcohol O-acetyl transferase, anthocyanin O-hydroxycinnamoyl transferase, N-hydroxycinnamoyl anthranilate benzoyl transferase, and deacetylvindoline 4-O-acetyltransferase (BAHD) enzymes play a critical role in regulating plant metabolites and affecting cell stability. In the present study, members of the BAHD gene family were recognized in the genome of Theobroma cacao and characterized using various bioinformatics tools. We found 27 non-redundant putative tcBAHD genes in cacao for the first time. Our findings indicate that tcBAHD genes are diverse based on sequence structure, physiochemical properties, and function. When analyzed with BAHDs of Gossypium raimondii and Corchorus capsularis clustered into four main groups. According to phylogenetic analysis, BAHD genes probably evolved drastically after their divergence. The divergence time of duplication events with purifying selection pressure was predicted to range from 1.82 to 15.50 MYA. Pocket analysis revealed that serine amino acid is more common in the binding site than other residuals, reflecting its key role in regulating the activity of tcBAHDs. Furthermore, cis-acting elements related to the responsiveness of stress and hormone, particularly ABA and MeJA, were frequently observed in the promoter region of tcBAHD genes. RNA-seq analysis further illustrated that tcBAHD13 and tcBAHD26 are involved in response to Phytophthora megakarya fungi. In conclusion, it is likely that evolutionary processes, such as duplication events, have caused high diversity in the structure and function of tcBAHD genes.

Copper Amine Oxidase (CuAO)-Mediated Polyamine Catabolism Plays Potential Roles in Sweet Cherry (Prunus avium L.) Fruit Development and Ripening

“…Then, the Conserved Domain Database of NCBI was used to identify conserved structural domains, and genes containing the structural domain of CuAO were retained. Referring to the method in the reference [ 45 ], the evolutionary tree construction and kinship analysis were performed using the maximum likelihood method in MEGA, multiplex protein sequence alignment was performed using DNAman, and gene structure and chromosomal localization were analyzed using TBtools [ 46 ]. The cis -acting elements of the promoter were predicted using the PlantCARE online website ( (accessed on 10 August 2022)) and mapped using TBtools.…”

Genome-Wide Identification and Expression Pattern Analysis of BAHD Acyltransferase Family in Taxus mairei

“…In Clade V, the TwBAHDs function as hydroxycinnamoyl transferase, which is involved in lignin synthesis, mediating plant growth and development [38]. In Clade VI, TwBAHD21, TwBAHD92, and TwBAHD108 are orthologs of aliphatic suberin feruloyl transferase, feruloyltransferase, and deficient in cutin ferulate [39]; also in this clade, TwBAHD23, TwBAHD42, TwBAHD56, TwBAHD97, and TwBAHD98 are orthologs of alcohol acyltransferase, which is required to produce volatile esters [40]. However, in most cases, the clade members of T. mairei clearly pos-sess their own branch in phylogeny compared with the identified members from other species, which further indicated that these TwBAHDs may also be functionally different from orthologs in other species.…”

Transcriptome Analysis Reveals a Gene Expression Pattern That Contributes to Sugarcane Bud Propagation Induced by Indole-3-Butyric Acid

“…In addition to physiological data about hormones and plant growth promotion, we further analyzed the data at the molecular level by transcriptomic analysis experiment by using two kinds of samples, 100 ppm IBA-treated buds (T) and control buds (CK). In recent times, modern biotechnological, bioinformatics tools and big-data platforms have helped understand the functions of genes and gene families up to depth ( Hoang et al, 2017 ; Abdullah et al, 2021 ; Faraji et al, 2021 ; Heidari et al, 2021 ; Manechini et al, 2021 ). In this study, RNA-seq results revealed that The IBA treatment significantly influenced DEGs regulation.…”