In-silico identification and characterization of Rab gene family in response to abiotic stresses in Solanum tuberosum

Abstract

1 ABSTRACT Potato is economically important tuber crop and widely cultured as source of starch. Rab GTPases one of the largest gene family, have different roles in membranous transportation and responsiveness against different stresses. Although Rab genes are identified and characterized in different plant but were not reported in potato. The Rab genes were validated using Arabidopsis as reference specie. In this comprehensive study, an insilico analysis was conducted to identify Rab gene in potatoes using NCBI databases. We identified and characterized a total of 50 StRab genes in potato and were classified in 8 major groups/clades. Based on their chromosomal mapping and gene duplication analysis the three pairs of tandem duplication and twelve pairs of segmental duplication were identified. The Ka/Ks values among all gene pairs are significantly lower than 1 that indicates that the Rab genes are under purifying selection pressure that will help to sustain the structural and functional preservation of the gene. The numbers of intron and subcellular localization of the Rab gene family in each group are the same. Gene ontology analysis predicts that Rab genes perform a major role in GTPase activity, GTP binding, and catalytic activity, and the several cis-elements related to stress and hormone responses were identified in upstream regions of StRab genes. Our results provide a comprehensive understanding of Rab genes and the information on StRab genes that play a significant role in multiple plant hormones and stress responses and they can be recommended for future studies.