Genome-wide identification and analysis of SAUR gene family in strawberry (Fragaria vesca L.) reveal its potential functions in different developmental stages

ABSTRACT

Auxin is a plant hormone that is highly associated with various biological processes, especially plant growth, development and fruit ripening. The Small Auxin Upregulated RNA (SAUR) genes, whose family is the largest one of early auxin response genes, has received less attention from genome-wide analyzes compared to other gene families. In this study, we successfully conducted a genome-wide analysis of Fragaria vesca L. and identified 66 SAUR genes. In this paper, we provide important information on the identification of all SAUR genes in Fragaria vesca, including gene and protein sequences, chromosome mapping, and phylogeny analyzes. Gene expression data from the strawberry eFP Browser demonstrated that FvSAUR genes had diversified expression patterns in vegetative tissues. The RT-qPCR analysis demonstrated that 10 selected SAUR genes based on eFP strawberry browser could be expressed with expression divergence at least in one of the strawberry organs/tissues tested. Our analysis provides some basic genomic information for the FvSAUR genes in strawberry and a foundation for further investigations for deciphering their function during plant development and fruit ripening.

Keywords:
auxin; expression analysis; identification; SAUR; strawberry