Genome – wide Analysis and Characterization of Eucalyptus grandis TCP Transcription Factors

Abstract

TCPs, a small transcription gene family, serve in developmental processes such as branching, flowering, and growth of plants. In this study, the TCP transcription gene family of eucalyptus, which is considered as being important for its medicinal and industrial uses was bioinformatically investigated. A total of 16 Eucalyptus grandis TCP (Egra-TCP) genes were found to be distributed on chromosomes 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10 and 11. Several segmentally-duplicated gene couples including Egra-TCP-7/Egra-TCP-11, -13 and -16, Egra-TCP-6/Egra-TCP-12 and -15, Egra-TCP-12/Egra-TCP-15 and Egra-TCP-11/Egra-TCP-13 were discovered. Egra-TCPs were divided into three main clades based on phylogenetic analysis, motif and gene structure. While Egra-TCP-10 has the highest molecular weight with 47.19 kDa, the lowest one was Egra-TCP-1 with 21.68 kDa. Twelve Egra-TCP genes were found to have no introns. On the other hand, Egra-TCP-7, -15 and -16 genes have single intron. The orthologous relationships among E. grandis/Arabidopsis thaliana and E. grandis/Vitis vinifera were found through synteny analysis. Digital gene expression profiles of Egra-TCP genes in tissues such as xylem, phloem, shoot tips, young & mature leaf were revealed high expression pattern. The findings of this study could make significant contributions to the biotechnology field by providing new knowledge and serve additional information for understanding the molecular basis of the TCP gene family in the eucalyptus plant.