Artigo
The tomato RLK superfamily: phylogeny and functional predictions about the role of the LRRII-RLK subfamily in antiviral defense
Autor
Sakamoto, Tetsu
Deguchi, Michihito
Brustolini, Otávio JB
Santos, Anésia A
Silva, Fabyano F
Fontes, Elizabeth PB
Institución
Resumen
Receptor-like kinases (RLKs) play key roles during development and in responses to the environment. Despite the relevance of the RLK family and the completion of the tomato genome sequencing, the tomato RLK family has not yet been characterized, and a framework for functional predictions of the members of the family is lacking. To generate a complete list of all the members of the tomato RLK family, we performed a phylogenetic analysis using the Arabidopsis family as a template. A total of 647 RLKs were identified in the tomato genome, which were organized into the same subfamily clades as Arabidopsis RLKs. Only eight of 58 RLK subfamilies exhibited specific expansion/reduction compared to their Arabidopsis counterparts. We also characterized the LRRII-RLK family by
phylogeny, genomic analysis, expression profile and interaction with the virulence factor from begomoviruses, the nuclear
shuttle protein (NSP). The LRRII subfamily members from tomato and Arabidopsis were highly conserved in both
sequence and structure. Nevertheless, the majority of the orthologous pairs did not display similar conservation in the
gene expression profile, indicating that these orthologs may have diverged in function after speciation. Based on the fact
that members of the Arabidopsis LRRII subfamily (AtNIK1, AtNIK2 and AtNIK3) interact with the begomovirus nuclear
shuttle protein (NSP), we examined whether the tomato orthologs of NIK, BAK1 and NsAK genes interact with NSP of
Tomato Yellow Spot Virus (ToYSV). The tomato orthologs of NSP interactors, SlNIKs and SlNsAK, interacted specifically with
NSP in yeast and displayed an expression pattern consistent with the pattern of geminivirus infection. In addition to
suggesting a functional analogy between these phylogenetically classified orthologs, these results expand our previous
observation that NSP-NIK interactions are neither virus-specific nor host-specific. The tomato RLK superfamily is made-up of 647 proteins that form a monophyletic tree with the
Arabidopsis RLKs and is divided into 58 subfamilies. Few subfamilies have undergone expansion/reduction, and only six
proteins were lineage-specific. Therefore, the tomato RLK family shares functional and structural conservation with
Arabidopsis. For the LRRII-RLK members SlNIK1 and SlNIK3, we observed functions analogous to those of their Arabidopsis
counterparts with respect to protein-protein interactions and similar expression profiles, which predominated in tissues
that support high efficiency of begomovirus infection. Therefore, NIK-mediated antiviral signaling is also likely to operate in tomato, suggesting that tomato NIKs may be good targets for engineering resistance against tomato-infecting
begomoviruses.