Find in Library

Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) is the first enzyme in the phenylpropanoid pathway and plays a vital role in adoption, growth, and development in plants but in wheat its characterization is still not very clear. Here, we report a genome-wide identification of <i>TaPAL</i> genes and analysis of their transcriptional expression, duplication, and phylogeny in wheat. A total of 37 <i>TaPAL</i> genes that cluster into three subfamilies have been identified based on phylogenetic analysis. These <i>TaPAL</i> genes are distributed on 1A, 1B, 1D, 2A, 2B, 2D, 4A, 5B, 6A, 6B, and 6D chromosomes. Gene structure, conserved domain analysis, and investigation of <i>cis</i>-regulatory elements were systematically carried out. Chromosomal rearrangements and gene loss were observed by evolutionary analysis of the orthologs among <i>Triticum urartu</i>, <i>Aegilops tauschii</i>, and <i>Triticum aestivum</i> during the origin of bread wheat. Gene ontology analysis revealed that <i>PAL</i> genes play a role in plant growth. We also identified 27 putative miRNAs targeting 37 <i>TaPAL</i> genes. The high expression level of <i>PAL</i> genes was detected in roots of drought-tolerant genotypes compared to drought-sensitive genotypes. However, very low expressions of <i>TaPAL10, TaPAL30, TaPAL32, TaPAL3,</i> and <i>TaPAL28</i> were recorded in all wheat genotypes. Arogenate dehydratase interacts with TaPAL29 and has higher expression in roots. The analysis of all identified genes in RNA-seq data showed that they are expressed in roots and shoots under normal and abiotic stress. Our study offers valuable data on the functioning of <i>PAL</i> genes in wheat.