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Plant function and evolutionary biology
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Identification and characterisation of blue light photoreceptor gene family and their expression in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) under cold stress

Agossa Anicet Batcho https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2957-8426 A B * , Joy Oluchi Nwogwugwu C , Mohsin Ali https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6969-415X D , Basit Jabbar E , Ayesha Javaid F and Martin Fellner B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A National University of Sciences, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (ENS-UNSTIM), Natitingou, Republic of Benin.

B Laboratory of Growth Regulators, Institute of Experimental Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Palacký University, Šlechtitelů 27, Olomouc-Holice 783 71, Czech Republic.

C Department of Forest Conservation and Protection, Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria, Ibadan, Nigeria.

D Independent Researcher, House No. 280 A/1 Sector F1 Mirpur 10250, AJK, Pakistan.

E Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology, University of the Punjab Lahore, Pakistan.

F Independent Researcher, Askari 13, Rawalpandi 46604, Pakistan.

* Correspondence to: anicetbatcho1@gmail.com

Handling Editor: Sergey Shabala

Functional Plant Biology 49(7) 647-658 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP21297
Submitted: 17 February 2021  Accepted: 7 March 2022   Published: 19 April 2022

© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing

Abstract

The Arabidopsis thaliana L. photoreceptor genes homologues in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) genome were analysed using bioinformatic tools. The expression pattern of these genes under cold stress was also evaluated. Transcriptome analysis of the tomato sequence revealed that the photoreceptor gene family is involved in abiotic stress tolerance. They participate in various pathways and controlling multiple metabolic processes. They are structurally related to PAS, LIGHT-OXYGEN-VOLTAGE-SENSING (LOV), DNA photolyase, 5,10-methenyl tetrahydrofolate (MTHF), flavin-binding kelch F-box, GAF, PHY, Seven-bladed β-propeller and C27 domains. They also interact with flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD), (5S)-5-methyl-2-(methylsulfanyl)-5-phenyl-3-(phenylamino)-3,5-dihydro-4H-imidazol-4-one (FNM) and Phytochromobilin (PϕB) ligands. These interactions help to create a cascade of protein phosphorylation involving in cell defence transcription or stress-regulated genes. They localisation of these gene families on tomato chromosomes appeared to be uneven. Phylogenetic tree of tomato and Arabidopsis photoreceptor gene family were classified into eight subgroups, indicating gene expression diversity. Morphological and physiological assessment revealed no dead plant after 4 h of cold treatment. All the plants were found to be alive, but there were some variations in the data across different parameters. Cold stress significantly reduced the rate of photosynthesis from 10.06 to 3.16 μmol m−2 s−1, transpiration from 4.6 to 1.3 mmol m−2 s−1, and stomatal conductance from 94.6 to 25.6 mmol m−2 s−1. The cold stressed plants also had reduced height, root/shoot length, and fresh/dry biomass weight than the control plants. Relative expression analysis under cold stress revealed that after 4 h, light stimulates the transcript level of Cry2 from 1.9 to 5.7 and PhyB from 0.98 to 6.9 compared to other photoreceptor genes.

Keywords: abiotic stress tolerance, bioinformatics, blue light signaling, expression analysis, photoreceptor genes, photosynthesis, tomato, transcriptome data.


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