title: The pattern of Phosphate transporter 1 genes evolutionary divergence in Glycine max L.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Phosphate transporter 1 (PHT1) gene family has crucial roles in phosphate uptake, translocation, remobilization, and optimization of metabolic processes using of Pi. Gene duplications expand the size of gene families, and subfunctionalization of paralog gene pairs is a predominant tendency after gene duplications. To date, experimental evidence for the evolutionary relationships among different paralog gene pairs of a given gene family in soybean is limited.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All potential Phosphate transporter 1 genes in Glycine max L. (GmPHT1) were systematically analyzed using both bioinformatics and experimentation. The soybean PHT1 genes originated from four distinct ancestors prior to the Gamma WGT and formed 7 paralog gene pairs and a singleton gene. Six of the paralog gene pairs underwent subfunctionalization, and while GmPHT1;4 paralog gene experienced pseudogenization. Examination of long-term evolutionary changes, six GmPHT1 paralog gene pairs diverged at multiple levels, in aspects of spatio-temporal expression patterns and/or quanta, phosphates affinity properties, subcellular localization, and responses to phosphorus stress.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These characterized divergences occurred in tissue- and/or development-specific modes, or conditional modes. Moreover, they have synergistically shaped the evolutionary rate of GmPHT1 family, as well as maintained phosphorus homeostasis at cells and in the whole plant.
authors.affiliation: MOA Key Lab of Soybean Biology (Beijing), National K'ey Facility of Crop Gene Resource and Genetic Improvement, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 12 Zhongguancun Nandajie, Haidian District, Beijing 100081, China.
authors.forename: Chengming
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Ruibo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Yahui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Chaowen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Xiaomei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Changying
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Yong-Fu
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Fu
mesh_terms: D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D020440:Gene Duplication / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D028061:Phosphate Transport Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D013025:Glycine max / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D028061:Phosphate Transport Proteins