Genome-wide  analysis of immunophilin FKBP genes and expression patterns in Zea  mays.
The  receptors for the immunosuppression drugs FK506 and rapamycin are called FKBPs  (FK506-binding proteins). FKBPs comprise a large family; they are found in many  species, including bacteria, fungi, animals, and plants. As a class of  peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase enzymes, the FKBP genes have been  the focus of recent studies on plant stress tolerance and immunology. We  identified and analyzed gene families encoding these proteins in maize using  computational and molecular biology approaches. Thirty genes were found to  encode putative FKBPs according to their FK506-binding domain. The FKBP genes can be classified into single domain and multiple domain members  based on the number of the domains. By analysis of the physical locations, the  30 FKBP genes were found to be widely distributed on 10 chromosomes.  After analysis of the FKBP phylogenetic tree in the maize genome, we found that  the 30 genes revealed two major clades. Gene duplication played a major role in  the evolution of FKBP genes, which suggests that the FKBP genes  in maize have a pattern significantly different from that of these genes in  rice. Based on semi-quantitative RT-PCR, we found that the 30 FKBPs were  expressed differently in various tissues in maize, which suggests that FKBP genes  play different roles in each tissue. Several FKBPs were expressed at  higher levels in roots, indicating that these genes in maize may have similar  or overlapping functions.
School of Chemistry and Life Sciences, Suzhou University, Suzhou, Anhui, China.
W-W
WW
Wang
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Q
Ma
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Y
Xiang
S-W
SW
Zhu
B-J
BJ
Cheng
D020440:Gene Duplication / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D022021:Tacrolimus Binding Proteins / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D003313:Zea mays / Q000235:genetics*
D010940:Plant Proteins; D022021:Tacrolimus Binding Proteins