title: Genome-wide identification, structural analysis and new insights into late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) gene family formation pattern in Brassica napus.
abstract: Late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins are a diverse and large group of polypeptides that play important roles in desiccation and freezing tolerance in plants. The LEA family has been systematically characterized in some plants but not Brassica napus. In this study, 108 BnLEA genes were identified in the B. napus genome and classified into eight families based on their conserved domains. Protein sequence alignments revealed an abundance of alanine, lysine and glutamic acid residues in BnLEA proteins. The BnLEA gene structure has few introns (<3), and they are distributed unevenly across all 19 chromosomes in B. napus, occurring as gene clusters in chromosomes A9, C2, C4 and C5. More than two-thirds of the BnLEA genes are associated with segmental duplication. Synteny analysis revealed that most LEA genes are conserved, although gene losses or gains were also identified. These results suggest that segmental duplication and whole-genome duplication played a major role in the expansion of the BnLEA gene family. Expression profiles analysis indicated that expression of most BnLEAs was increased in leaves and late stage seeds. This study presents a comprehensive overview of the LEA gene family in B. napus and provides new insights into the formation of this family.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074 China.|Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for the Characteristic Resources Exploitation of Dabie Mountains, Huanggang Normal University, Huanggang 438000, China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074 China.
authors.forename: Ziyi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074 China.
authors.forename: Jianxiao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074 China.
authors.forename: Dongyang
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074 China.
authors.forename: Zeyang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for the Characteristic Resources Exploitation of Dabie Mountains, Huanggang Normal University, Huanggang 438000, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xiang
authors.affiliation: Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for the Characteristic Resources Exploitation of Dabie Mountains, Huanggang Normal University, Huanggang 438000, China.
authors.forename: Jianping
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gan
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074 China.
authors.forename: Nadia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Raboanatahiry
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074 China.
authors.forename: Yongtai
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074 China.|Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for the Characteristic Resources Exploitation of Dabie Mountains, Huanggang Normal University, Huanggang 438000, China.
authors.forename: Maoteng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D029688:Brassica napus / Q000235:genetics*; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D032461:Chromosomes, Plant; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018745:Genome, Plant; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study; D010802:Phylogeny