Genome-wide analysis of haloacid dehalogenase genes reveals their function in phosphate starvation responses in rice

PLoS One. 2021 Jan 22;16(1):e0245600. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0245600. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

The HAD superfamily is named after the halogenated acid dehalogenase found in bacteria, which hydrolyses a diverse range of organic phosphate substrates. Although certain studies have shown the involvement of HAD genes in Pi starvation responses, systematic classification and bioinformatics analysis of the HAD superfamily in plants is lacking. In this study, 41 and 40 HAD genes were identified by genomic searching in rice and Arabidopsis, respectively. According to sequence similarity, these proteins are divided into three major groups and seven subgroups. Conserved motif analysis indicates that the majority of the identified HAD proteins contain phosphatase domains. A further structural analysis showed that HAD proteins have four conserved motifs and specified cap domains. Fewer HAD genes show collinearity relationships in both rice and Arabidopsis, which is consistent with the large variations in the HAD genes. Among the 41 HAD genes of rice, the promoters of 28 genes contain Pi-responsive cis-elements. Mining of transcriptome data and qRT-PCR results showed that at least the expression of 17 HAD genes was induced by Pi starvation in shoots or roots. These HAD proteins are predicted to be involved in intracellular or extracellular Po recycling under Pi stress conditions in plants.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic*
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Plant*
  • Genome-Wide Association Study
  • Hydrolases / biosynthesis*
  • Hydrolases / genetics
  • Oryza / enzymology*
  • Oryza / genetics
  • Phosphates / metabolism*
  • Plant Proteins / biosynthesis*
  • Plant Proteins / genetics

Substances

  • Phosphates
  • Plant Proteins
  • Hydrolases
  • 2-haloacid dehalogenase

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (31772378, 32072663) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central University of China (2662019PY013, 2662017PY012). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.