Open AccessPhylogenomic analysis of MKKs and MAPKs from 16 legumes and detection of interacting pairs in chickpea divulge MAPK signalling modules
Author(s) -
Savithri Purayannur,
Kamal Kumar,
Vemula Chandra Kaladhar,
Praveen Kumar Verma
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
scientific reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.24
H-Index - 213
ISSN - 2045-2322
DOI - 10.1038/s41598-017-04913-0
Subject(s) - biology , vicia faba , legume , medicago truncatula , botany , lotus japonicus , bimolecular fluorescence complementation , gene , genetics , symbiosis , bacteria , mutant
The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)-mediated phosphorylation cascade is a vital component of plant cellular signalling. Despite this, MAPK signalling cascade is less characterized in crop legumes. To fill this void, we present here a comprehensive phylogeny of MAPK kinases (MKKs) and MAPKs identified from 16 legume species belonging to genistoid ( Lupinus angustifolius ), dalbergioid ( Arachis spp.), phaseoloid ( Glycine max , Cajanus cajan , Phaseolus vulgaris , and Vigna spp.), and galegoid ( Cicer arietinum , Lotus japonicus , Medicago truncatula , Pisum sativum , Trifolium spp., and Vicia faba ) clades. Using the genes of the diploid crop chickpea ( C . arietinum ), an exhaustive interaction analysis was performed between MKKs and MAPKs by split-ubiquitin based yeast two-hybrid (Y2H). Twenty seven interactions of varying strengths were identified between chickpea MKKs and MAPKs. These interactions were verified in planta by bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC). As a first report in plants, four intra-molecular interactions of weak strength were identified within chickpea MKKs. Additionally; two TEOSINTE-BRANCHED1/CYCLOIDEA/PCF (TCP) transcription factors of class I were identified as novel down-stream interacting partners of seven MAPKs. We propose that this highly reliable MAPK interaction network, presented here for chickpea, can be utilized as a reference for legumes and thus will help in deciphering their role in legume-specific events.