Expression and evolution of the phospholipase C gene family in Brachypodium distachyon

Phospholipase C (PLC) is an enzyme that hydrolyzes phospholipids and plays an important role in plant growth and development. The Brachypodium distachyon is a model plant of Gramineae, but the research on PLC gene family of Brachypodium has not been reported. This study was performed to identify the PLC family gene in Brachypodium and to determine the expression profiles of PLCs under the abiotic stress. Complete genome sequences and transcriptomes of Brachypodium were downloaded from the PLAZA. The hidden Markov model-based profile of the conserved PLC domain was submitted as a query to identify all potential PLC domain sequences with HMMER software. Expression profiles of BdPLCs were obtained based on the qRT-PCR analysis. There were 8 PLC genes in Brachypodium (BdPI-PLCs 1–4 and BdNPCs 1–4). All members of BdPI-PLC had three conserved domains of X, Y, and C2, and no EF-hand was found. All BdNPCs contained a phosphatase domain. BdPI-PLC genes were distributed on Chr1, Chr2 and Chr4, with different types and numbers of cis-regulatory elements in their respective gene promoters. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the genetic relationship between Brachypodium and rice was closer than Arabidopsis. The expression patterns of BdPI-PLC gene under abiotic stresses (drought, low temperature, high temperature and salt stress) were up-regulated, indicated their important roles in response to low temperature, high temperature, drought and salt stresses. This study provides comprehensive information for the study of Brachypodium PLC gene family and lays a foundation for further research on the molecular mechanism of Brachypodium stress adaptation.