Identification and phylogeny of the tomato receptor-like proteins family

The receptor-like proteins (RLPs) play multiple roles in development and defense. In the current work 75 RLPs were identified in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) using iterative BLAST searches and domain prediction. A phylogenetic tree including all the identified RLPs from tomato and some functionally characterized RLPs from other species was built to identify their putative homologues in tomato. We first tested whether C3-F-based phylogeny was a good indicator of functional relation between related proteins of different species. Indeed, the functionally characterized CLAVATA2 (CLV2), the maize ortholog FASCIATED EAR2 (FEA2) and a putative tomato CLV2 described in Uniprot clustered together, which validates the approach. Using this approach Solyc12g042760.1.1 was identified as the putative tomato homologue of TOO MANY MOUTHS (TMM). It was shown that proteins in the same cluster of the phylogenetic tree share functional relations since several clusters of functionally related proteins i.e. the Ve cluster, the Cf cluster, and the Eix clade were formed. Keywords: phylogeny, receptors, RLP, tomato