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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Systematics and Evolution
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1502649

Genome-wide analysis of sugar transporter (ST) gene family in Erianthus rufipilus and Saccharum officinarum, expression profiling and identification of transcription factors

Provisionally accepted
Sehrish Akbar Sehrish Akbar 1Xiuting Hua Xiuting Hua 2Yingying Zhang Yingying Zhang 1Liu Gang Liu Gang 1Tianyou Wang Tianyou Wang 2Huihong Shi Huihong Shi 1Zhen Li Zhen Li 2Yiying Qi Yiying Qi 1Habiba habiba Habiba habiba 3Wei Yao Wei Yao 2Mu-Qing Zhang Mu-Qing Zhang 2Jisen Zhang Jisen Zhang 2*
  • 1 Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, Fujian Province, China
  • 2 Guangxi University, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Region, China
  • 3 The City University of New York, New York, New York, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Sugar, the primary product of photosynthesis, is a vital requirement for cell activities. Allocation of sugar from source to sink tissues is facilitated by sugar transporters (ST). These STs belong to the Major Facilitator Superfamily (MFS), the largest family of STs in plants. In this study, we used Saccharum spontaneum (S. spontaneum) as a reference genome and identified 78 ST gene families in Erianthus rufipilus (E. rufipilus) (a diploid species of Saccharum) and 86 ST gene families in Saccharum officinarum (S. officinarum) (a polyploid species). Phylogenetic analysis distributed the ST genes into eight distinct subfamilies (INT, MST, VGT, pGlcT, PLT, STP, SFP and SUT). Chromosomal distribution of ST genes clustered them on 10 respective chromosomes.Furthermore, synteny analysis with S. spontaneum and Sorghum bicolor (S. bicolor) revealed highly colinear regions. Synonymous and non-synonymous ratio (Ka/Ks) showed purifying selection in gene evolution. Promoter analysis identified several cis-regulatory elements, mainly associated with light responsiveness. We also examined the expression pattern of ST genes in different developing tissues (mature leaf, pre-mature stem, mature stem and seedling stem).Under sugar stress, we identified the significant ST genes showing differential expression Liu 删除[Hua Xiuting]:patterns. Moreover, our yeast one-hybrid (Y1H) assays identified NAM, ATAF and CUC (NAC) and Lesion Simulating Disease (LSD) potential transcription factors (TFs) that bind to the SUT1-T1 promoter in S. officinarum, showing negative correlation pattern with SUT1-T1. These findings elaborate on the role of ST genes in sugar allocation in source and sink tissues. Our results deepen our understanding of ST gene evolution in Saccharum species and will facilitate the future investigation of functional analysis of the ST gene family.

    Keywords: sugar transporter, Genome wide analysis, Erianthus rufipilus, gene family analysis, Saccharum officinarum, yeast-1-hybrid (Y1H) assay

    Received: 27 Sep 2024; Accepted: 29 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Akbar, Hua, Zhang, Gang, Wang, Shi, Li, Qi, habiba, Yao, Zhang and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Jisen Zhang, Guangxi University, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Region, China

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