Chinese Bulletin of Botany ›› 2020, Vol. 55 ›› Issue (2): 147-162.DOI: 10.11983/CBB19103

• EXPERIMENTAL COMMUNICATIONS • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Evolution and Functional Analysis of Gene Clusters in Anther Tapetum Cells of Arabidopsis thaliana

Zeyuan Zuo,Wanlin Liu,Jie Xu()   

  1. School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
  • Received:2019-05-30 Accepted:2019-09-19 Online:2020-03-01 Published:2020-02-12
  • Contact: Jie Xu

Abstract: In plant genome, in addition to the discovery of homologous gene clustering, it has been known that some heterologous genes with co-expression characteristics can exist as gene clusters, however, the evolution and biological function of these heterogeneous gene clusters remain elusive. The development of anthers and the formation of pollen are unique reproductive biology processes evolved in seed plants. In this process, some gene cluster genes that specifically express and function in the anther tapetum are evolved. This study screened for some clustered genes expressed during anther development, and analyzed their molecular characteristics, expression regulation, gene age, as well as explored the relationship between the clustered genes and plant flowering function evolution. In Arabidopsis thaliana, we screened 84 clustered genes (which belong to 13 gene clusters), which are mainly expressed in tandem repeat events, and 76% of these genes appear in the latter stage of flowering plant evolution, that mainly involved in biological processes such as reproductive development, pollen sheath composition and lipid metabolism. This study has thus provided preliminary analysis on the basic characteristics, biological functions and mechanisms of the evolution of the clustered genes in the anther tapetum of Arabidopsis thaliana, which laid a foundation for future study on the function of the clustered genes.

Key words: Arabidopsis thaliana, gene cluster, anther tapetum, gene duplication, evolution