AI Article Synopsis

  • Aquaporin water channels (AQPs) are important transmembrane proteins that facilitate the movement of water and solutes across cell membranes, and their specific roles in silver birch are not well understood.
  • A genome analysis of silver birch identified 33 potential AQP genes organized into five distinct subfamilies, each with conserved structural features and varying functions.
  • Despite finding that 23 of these genes are actively transcribed, the study observed no significant expression changes in leaves under cold stress, suggesting that this species has unique adaptive mechanisms to environmental challenges.

Article Abstract

Aquaporin water channels (AQPs) constitute a large family of transmembrane proteins present throughout all kingdoms of life. They play key roles in the flux of water and many solutes across the membranes. The AQP diversity, protein features, and biological functions of silver birch are still unknown. A genome analysis of identified 33 putative genes encoding full-length AQP sequences (AQPs). They are grouped into five subfamilies, representing ten plasma membrane intrinsic proteins (PIPs), eight tonoplast intrinsic proteins (TIPs), eight NOD26-like intrinsic proteins (NIPs), four X intrinsic proteins (XIPs), and three small basic intrinsic proteins (SIPs). The AQP gene structure is conserved within each subfamily, with exon numbers ranging from one to five. The predictions of the aromatic/arginine selectivity filter (ar/R), Froger's positions, specificity-determining positions, and 2D and 3D biochemical properties indicate noticeable transport specificities to various non-aqueous substrates between members and/or subfamilies. Nevertheless, overall, the PIPs display mostly hydrophilic ar/R selective filter and lining-pore residues, whereas the TIP, NIP, SIP, and XIP subfamilies mostly contain hydrophobic permeation signatures. Transcriptional expression analyses indicate that 23 genes are transcribed, including five organ-related expressions. Surprisingly, no significant transcriptional expression is monitored in leaves in response to cold stress (6 °C), although interesting trends can be distinguished and will be discussed, notably in relation to the plasticity of this pioneer species, . The current study presents the first detailed genome-wide analysis of the AQP gene family in a species, and our results lay a foundation for a better understanding of the specific functions of the genes in the responses of the silver birch trees to cold stress.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8304918PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms22147269DOI Listing

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