Genome-Wide Identification, Classification and Expression Analysis of m6A Gene Family in Solanum lycopersicum

Abstract

Advanced knowledge of messenger RNA (mRNA) N6-methyladenosine (m6A) and DNA N6-methyldeoxyadenosine (6 mA) redefine our understanding of these epigenetic modifications. Both m6A and 6mA carry important information for gene regulation, and the corresponding catalytic enzymes sometimes belong to the same gene family and need to be distinguished. However, a comprehensive analysis of the m6A gene family in tomato remains obscure. Here, 24 putative m6A genes and their family genes in tomato were identified and renamed according to BLASTP and phylogenetic analysis. Chromosomal location, synteny, phylogenetic, and structural analyses were performed, unravelling distinct evolutionary relationships between the MT-A70, ALKBH, and YTH protein families, respectively. Most of the 24 genes had extensive tissue expression, and 9 genes could be clustered in a similar expression trend. Besides, SlYTH1 and SlYTH3A showed a different expression pattern in leaf and fruit development. Additionally, qPCR data revealed the expression variation under multiple abiotic stresses, and LC-MS/MS determination exhibited that the cold stress decreased the level of N6 2′-O dimethyladenosine (m6Am). Notably, the orthologs of newly identified single-strand DNA (ssDNA) 6mA writer–eraser–reader also existed in the tomato genome. Our study provides comprehensive information on m6A components and their family proteins in tomato and will facilitate further functional analysis of the tomato N6-methyladenosine modification genes.