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Assessing Evolutionary Divergence in Genome-Wide MADS-Box Genes and Expression Profiles Between Toona ciliata and
Xiao-Han Liu1,2, Yu Xiao1,2, Yan-Wen Lv1,2
1College of Forestry and Landscape Architecture South China Agricultural University Guangzhou China.
None:
Toona ciliata and Toona sinensis, two economically important timber species in China, exhibit interspecific variation in floral traits that are related to mating systems. The MADS-box genes play a crucial role in floral patterning of angiosperms. Here we identified 97 and 75 MADS-box genes at the genome scale in T. ciliata and T. sinensis, respectively, which were classified into Type I and Type II groups. Genes within the same subfamily exhibited high homology and conserved motifs. Promoter analysis revealed cis-acting elements related to growth, light response, hormone signaling, and stress response. Gene duplication was prevalent, with several genes undergoing multiple duplications. Most MADS-box genes were under purifying selection between T. ciliata and T. sinensis, while eight orthologous genes in the AGL32, Mβ, MIKC*, AG/STK, and AP1/FUL subfamilies were under weakly positive selection. Transcriptomic analysis showed high gene expression in SEP, AP1/FUL, AG/STK, PI, and AP3 subfamilies, highlighting their roles in floral development. A significantly negative correlation occurred between the evolutionary rate ( ) and gene expression level of MADS-box genes, suggesting evolutionary constraints on highly expressed genes. TWAS (transcription-wide association study) indicated that some MADS-box genes were significantly associated with floral traits in T. sinensis. The overall findings provide insights into the roles of MADS-box gene family in evolving interspecific divergence in floral development between T. ciliata and T. sinensis.
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