Genome-Wide Identification and Characterization of the Strigolactone (SL) Pathway and Associated Genes in Sorghum

Abstract

Strigolactones (SLs) are a novel class of plant hormones that play critical roles in reg-ulating developmental processes and stress tolerance. Even though the SL-related genes have been identified and characterized in model plants such as Arabidopsis and rice, characteri-zation of SL-related genes in crop plants, partic-ularly dry land crops like sorghum (Sorghum bi-color), have yet to be fully explored. In this study, the SL-pathway and associated genes and their expression patterns under abiotic stress were systematically identified and characterized in the sorghum. This study identified the SL path-way and associated genes, including biosyn-thesis (D27, CCD7, CCD8, MAX1 and LBO) and signaling (D14, MAX2, D53). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that all SL-related genes are highly conserved among plant species. Further-more, the expression analysis showed that most SL-related genes are involved in cold, drought and simulated drought/ABA stress response. These findings provide valuable information for further investigation and functional characteri-zation of SL-biosynthetic and signaling genes in response to abiotic stresses in sorghum.