Identification and Expression Analyses of Invertase Genes in Moso Bamboo Reveal Their Potential Drought Stress Functions

Abstract

Invertases (INVs) can irreversibly hydrolyze sucrose into fructose and glucose, which play principal roles in carbon metabolism and responses to various stresses in plants. However, little is known about the INV family in bamboos, especially their potential function in drought stress. In this study, 29 PeINV s were identified in moso bamboo ( Phyllostachys edulis ). They were clustered into alkaline/neutral invertase (NINV) and acid invertase (AINV) groups based on the gene structures, conserved motifs, and phylogenetic analysis results. The collinearity analysis showed nine segmental duplication pairs within PeINV s, and 25 pairs were detected between PeINV s and OsINV s. PeINV s may have undergone strong purification selection during evolution, and a variety of stress and phytohormone-related regulatory elements were found in the promoters of PeINV s. The tissue-specific expression analysis showed that PeINV s were differentially expressed in various moso bamboo tissues, which suggested that they showed functional diversity. Both the RNA-seq and quantitative real-time PCR results indicated that four PeINV s were significantly upregulated under drought stress. Co-expression network and Pearson’s correlation coefficient analyses showed that these PeINV s co-expressed positively with sugar and water transport genes ( SWTG s), and the changes were consistent with sugar content. Overall, we speculate that the identified PeINV s are spatiotemporally expressed, which enables them to participate in moso bamboo growth and development. Furthermore, PeINV s, together with SWTG s, also seem to play vital roles in the response to drought stress. These results provide a comprehensive information resource for PeINV s, which will facilitate further study of the molecular mechanism underlying PeINV s involvement in the response to drought stress in moso bamboo.

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