Genome-wide sequence identification and expression analysis of <i> N <sup>6</sup> </i> -methyladenosine demethylase in sugar beet ( <i>Beta vulgaris</i> L.) under salt stress
Jie Cui, Jun‐Li Liu, Junliang Li, Dayou Cheng, Cuihong Dai
Abstract
In eukaryotes, N 6 -methyladenosine (m 6 A) is the most abundant and highly conserved RNA modification. In vivo , m 6 A demethylase dynamically regulates the m 6 A level by removing the m 6 A marker where it plays an important role in plant growth, development and response to abiotic stress. The confirmed m 6 A demethylases in Arabidopsis thaliana include ALKBH9B and ALKBH10B, both belonging to the ALKB family. In this study, BvALKB family members were identified in sugar beet genome-wide database, and their conserved domains, gene structures, chromosomal locations, phylogeny, conserved motifs and expression of BvALKB genes were analyzed. Almost all BvALKB proteins contained the conserved domain of 2OG-Fe II-Oxy. Phylogenetic analysis suggested that the ten proteins were clustered into five groups, each of which had similar motifs and gene structures. Three Arabidopsis m 6 A demethylase-homologous proteins (BvALKBH6B, BvALKBH8B and BvALKBH10B) were of particular interest in our study. Expression profile analysis showed that almost all genes were up-regulated or down-regulated to varying degrees under salt stress. More specifically, BvALKBH10B homologous to AtALKBH10B was significantly up-regulated, suggesting that the transcriptional activity of this gene is responsive to salt stress. This study provides a theoretical basis for further screening of m 6 A demethylase in sugar beet, and also lays a foundation for studying the role of ALKB family proteins in growth, development and response to salinity stress.