Genome-wide identification of MAPK gene family and comparative transcriptional profiling among different organ and stress response in two jute species

Mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade is evolutionary conserved universal signal transduction module that plays central role in the growth and development of plants as well as in biotic and abiotic stress response. Although, MAPKs have been investigated in several model plants, no systematic analysis has been conducted in jute species (Corchorus olitorius and C. capsularis) even though, their genome sequencing has been completed. In the present study we identified 11 and 12 putative MAPKs in C. olitorius and C. capsularis using their genomic database, respectively. Here we provide a comprehensive bioinformatics analysis of the MAPK family from both Corchorus species including identification and nomenclature, chromosomal localization, sequence alignment, domain and Motif, gene structure, phylogenetic, functional analysis and investigation of expression analysis in response to abiotic stress and fiber cell development. The phylogenetic analysis of predicted MAPKs were clustered into four different clades and assigned with specific name based on their orthology based evolutionary relationship with Arabidopsis. Structural analysis of the MAPK genes revealed that there was a large variation among the exon number in both Corchorus species ranged from 2 to 11 but genes with the same clade had similar exon-intron structure. The sequence alignment analysis concede the presence of several conserved domain and motif including crucial signature phosphorylation motif TDY or TEY where first one is harbor in group D sequence and rest of the sequence contain TEY motif in their activation loop. Transcriptome analysis against salinity, drought along with fiber cell formation showed that MAPK4-1 genes in both jute genome highly expressed and may play a potential role in jute on adverse condition as well as jute fiber formation. These findings yielded new insights into the transcriptional control of MAPK gene expression, provide an improved understanding of abiotic stress responses and signaling transduction in jute, that lead to potential applications in the genetic improvement of jute cultivars.