AUTHOR=Gao Xiaoran , Zou Rong , Sun Haocheng , Liu Junxian , Duan Wenjing , Hu Yingkao , Yan Yueming 

TITLE=Genome-wide identification of wheat ABC1K gene family and functional dissection of TaABC1K3 and TaABC1K6 involved in drought tolerance

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2022.991171

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2022.991171

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>Activity of BC1 complex kinase (ABC1K) serves as an atypical kinase family involved in plant stress resistance. This study identified 44 <italic>ABC1K</italic> genes in the wheat genome, which contained three clades (I–III). <italic>TaABC1K</italic> genes generally had similar structural features, but differences were present in motif and exon compositions from different clade members. More type II functional divergence sites were detected between clade I and clade III and no positive selection site were found in <italic>TaABC1K</italic> family. The three-dimensional structure prediction by Alphafold2 showed that TaABC1K proteins had more α-helixes with a relatively even distribution, and different clade members had differences in the content of secondary structures. The <italic>cis</italic>-acting element analysis showed that <italic>TaABC1K</italic> genes contained abundant <italic>cis</italic>-acting elements related to plant hormones and environmental stress response in the promoter region, and generally displayed a significantly upregulated expression under drought stress. In particular, both <italic>TaABC1K3</italic> and <italic>TaABC1K6</italic> genes from clade I was highly induced by drought stress, and their overexpression in yeast and <italic>Arabidopsis</italic> enhanced drought tolerance by suppressing active oxygen burst and reducing photosynthesis impairment. Meanwhile, <italic>TaABC1K3</italic> and <italic>TaABC1K6</italic> could, respectively, complement the function of <italic>Arabidopsis abc1k3</italic> and <italic>abc1k6</italic> mutants and reduce photosynthesis damage caused by drought stress.</p>