Genome-Wide Identification and Characterisation of Cytokinin-O-Glucosyltransferase (CGT) Genes of Rice Specific to Potential Pathogens

Cytokinin glucosyltransferases (CGTs) are key enzymes of plants for regulating the level and function of cytokinins. In a genomic identification of rice CGTs, 41 genes with the plant secondary product glycosyltransferases (PSPG) motif of 44-amino-acid consensus sequence characteristic of plant uridine diphosphate (UDP)-glycosyltransferases (UGTs) were identified. In-silico physicochemical characterisation revealed that, though the CGTs belong to the same subfamily, they display varying molecular weights, ranging from 19.6 kDa to 59.7 kDa. The proteins were primarily acidic (87.8%) and hydrophilic (58.6%) and were observed to be distributed in the plastids (16), plasma membrane (13), mitochondria (5), and cytosol (4). Phylogenetic analysis of the CGTs revealed that their evolutionary relatedness ranged from 70-100%, and they aligned themselves into two major clusters. In a comprehensive analysis of the available transcriptomics data of rice samples representing different growth stages only the CGT, was significantly expressed at the vegetative stage, whereas 16 other genes were highly expressed only at the reproductive growth stage. On the contrary, six genes, and were significantly upregulated in rice plants inoculated with (RS), Xoo ( pv. ) and Mor ( ). In a qRT-PCR analysis of rice sheath tissue susceptible to , Mor, and Xoo pathogens, compared to the sterile distilled water control, at 24 h post-infection only two genes displayed significant upregulation in response to all the three pathogens: and . On the other hand, the expression of genes , and were observed to be pathogen-specific. These genes were identified as the candidate-responsive CGT genes and could serve as potential susceptibility genes for facilitating pathogen infection.