Evolutionary and Expression Analysis of CAMTA Gene Family in Three Species (Arabidopsis, Maize and Tomato), and Gene Expression in Response to Developmental Stages

Abstract

The calmodulin-binding transcriptional activator (CAMTA) family has been known to be one of the fast responsive stress proteins. In this study, 17 CAMTA genes were selected in Arabidopsis, tomato and maize. The chromosomal distributions, gene structures, duplication patterns, phylogenetic tree, and developmental stage of the 17 CAMTAgenes in the three species were analyzed to further investigate their functions. According to the synteny analysis, CAMTA genes of maize and tomatorevealed higher similarity with each other as compared with Arabidopsis. A higher than 90 percent identity was observed between maize CAMTA genes (ZmCAMTA2 and ZmCAMTA3) and tomato CAMTA genes (SlCAMTA4, SlCAMTA4.1). To detect expression levels in different plant tissues, mRNA analysis of CAMTA genes were performed using publicly available expression data in the genvestigator. The aim of study was to identify and characterize CAMTA genes in three species, for the first time, via insilico genome-wide analysis approach. AtCAMTA1 and AtCAMTA2 and SlCAMTA2 and ZmCAMTA1 and ZmCAMTA2 genes were up-regulated during all developmental stages. The conserved motifs and gene structure in most proteins in each group were similar, validating the CAMTA phylogenetic classification. This study could be considered as a useful source for future CAMTA comparative studies in different plant species.