title: Phylogeny and evolution of plant cyclic nucleotide-gated ion channel (CNGC) gene family and functional analyses of tomato CNGCs.
abstract: Cyclic nucleotide-gated ion channels (CNGCs) are calcium-permeable channels that are involved in various biological functions. Nevertheless, phylogeny and function of plant CNGCs are not well understood. In this study, 333 CNGC genes from 15 plant species were identified using comprehensive bioinformatics approaches. Extensive bioinformatics analyses demonstrated that CNGCs of Group IVa were distinct to those of other groups in gene structure and amino acid sequence of cyclic nucleotide-binding domain. A CNGC-specific motif that recognizes all identified plant CNGCs was generated. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that CNGC proteins of flowering plant species formed five groups. However, CNGCs of the non-vascular plant Physcomitrella patens clustered only in two groups (IVa and IVb), while those of the vascular non-flowering plant Selaginella moellendorffii gathered in four (IVa, IVb, I and II). These data suggest that Group IV CNGCs are most ancient and Group III CNGCs are most recently evolved in flowering plants. Furthermore, silencing analyses revealed that a set of CNGC genes might be involved in disease resistance and abiotic stress responses in tomato and function of SlCNGCs does not correlate with the group that they are belonging to. Our results indicate that Group IVa CNGCs are structurally but not functionally unique among plant CNGCs.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biotechnology, College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
authors.forename: Mumtaz Ali
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Saand
authors.affiliation: Centre of Analysis and Measurement, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
authors.forename: You-Ping
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biotechnology, College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
authors.forename: Jean-Pierre
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Munyampundu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biotechnology, College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
authors.forename: Wen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biotechnology, College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
authors.forename: Xuan-Rui
authors.initials: XR
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biotechnology, College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China xzhcai@zju.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xin-Zhong
authors.initials: XZ
authors.lastname: Cai
mesh_terms: D019068:Bryopsida / Q000235:genetics*; D019295:Computational Biology; D054815:Cyclic Nucleotide-Gated Cation Channels / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D020868:Gene Silencing; D017343:Genes, Plant; D018551:Solanum lycopersicum / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D010944:Plants; D032503:Selaginellaceae / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D054815:Cyclic Nucleotide-Gated Cation Channels
keywords: abiotic stress response; cyclic nucleotide-gated channel; gene structure; phylogeny; resistance