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Abstract Detail


Evolutionary Developmental Biology (Evo-Devo)

Mares, Jonathan [1], Malcomber, Simon [2].

Phylogenomics and Molecular Evolution of the TLS1 Transporter Gene Family.

Maize tasselless 1 (tls1) mutants exhibit severely truncated tassels. TLS1 is a member of the nodulin 26-like intrinsic protein (NIP) group of aquaporins, a large and functionally diverse plant specific gene family. The most comprehensively studied NIP to date,nodulin 26, has been shown to facilitate transport of glycerol, formamide and ammonia. Bayesian phylogenetic and comparative genomic analyses indicate that TLS1 forms a distinct, well supported monophyletic group comprised of both grasses and core eudicots, suggesting an origin for the lineage at least near the base of the flowering plants and potentially deeper within the vascular plant clade. Two main domains govern transport selectivity in NIP aquaporins: 1) the dual NPA motif in the center of the channel, and 2) the Aromatic/R pore. Sequence alignments reveal that the TLS1 clade show a difference from other NIPs in the dual NPA motif, exhibiting a conserved NPS, NPV motif. The Aromatic/R pore of the TLS1 clade is also unique, consisting of conserved alanine (A), isoleucine (I), glycine (G), and arginine (R) residues. The conservation of these domains within the TLS1 clade suggests that the gene function is conserved within the bulk of angiosperm species. The discovery that a TLS1co-ortholog in Arabidopsis thaliana(AtNIP5;1) functions in boric acid transport and is up-regulated in response to boron-deficiency implicates boron uptake as one of the broad functions of TLS1and suggests that the mutant tassel phenotype of maize tls1 mutants is caused by boric acid transport deficiency. To further investigate the evolution of theTLS1 gene family, we use RT-PCR and in situ RNA hybridization to analyze the expression patterns of TLS1 in a sampling of angiosperm species, homology modeling to analyze the unique structural elements of TLS1, and qRT-PCR to analyze whether boron-dependent up-regulation of TLS1 is present in the grass, Brachypodium distachyon.

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1 - 514w 155th Street, Gardena, CA, N/A, 90248, USA
2 - CSU - Long Beach, 1250 Bellflower Blvd, Long Beach, CA, 90840, USA

Keywords:
none specified

Presentation Type: Poster:Posters for Topics
Session: P
Location: Battelle South/Convention Center
Date: Monday, July 9th, 2012
Time: 5:30 PM
Number: PEV011
Abstract ID:602


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