Genome-Wide Analysis of Phospholipase D Gene Family and Profiling of Phospholipids under Abiotic Stresses in Brassica napus

Abstract

Oil crop Brassica napus is subjected to environmental stresses such as drought, cold and salt. Phospholipase Ds (PLDs) have vital roles in regulation of plant growth, development and stress tolerance. In this study, 32 BnaPLD genes were identified and classified into six subgroups depending on the conserved protein structures. High similarity in gene and protein structures exists between BnaPLDs and AtPLDs. Gene expression analysis showed that BnaPLDα1s and BnaPLDδs had higher expression than other PLDs. BnaPLDα1 and BnaPLDδ were significantly induced by abiotic stresses including dehydration, NaCl, abscisic acid (ABA) and 4�C. Lipidomic analysis showed that the content of main membrane phospholipids decreased gradually under stresses, except phosphatidylglycerol increased under the treatment of ABA and phosphatidylethanolamine increased under 4�C. Correspondingly, their product of phosphatidic acid increased often with a transient peak at 8 h. The plant height of mutants of PLDα1 was significantly reduced. Agronomic traits such as yield, seed number, silique number and branches were significantly impaired in PLDα1 mutants. These results indicate that there is a large family of PLD genes in B. napus, especially BnaPLDα1s and BnaPLDδs may play important roles in membrane lipids remodeling and maintaining of the growth and stress tolerance of B. napus.