GENOME-WIDE EVALUATION OF THE YABBY TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR GENE FAMILY IN THEOBROMA CACAO AND COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS WITH ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA

Q HAYYAT; MS AMJAD; MA ZOHAIB

doi:10.64013/bbasr.v2026i1.133

Authors

Q HAYYAT Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of the Punjab, P.O BOX. 54590, Lahore, Pakistan
MS AMJAD Department of Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan
MA ZOHAIB Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture Sciences, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.64013/bbasr.v2026i1.133

Keywords:

Theobroma cacao, YABBY transcription factors, Genome-wide analysis, Phylogenetic analysis, Synteny and gene duplication, Arabidopsis thaliana

Abstract

YABBY gene family is a group of plant transcription factors, as well as a DNA-binding domain incorporating numerous activities such as style length control in flowering plants and polarity formation of lateral organs. The genome of Theobroma cacao was utilized to discover members of the YABBY gene family via some online web techniques. Structure of the gene, location on the chromosome, protein motifs, phylogenetic investigation, synteny and dual synteny analysis, cis-regulatory elements, subcellular localization and functional enrichment, and protein–protein interaction networks were analyzed. In this case, 7 YABBY genes were identified at random on all 10 chromosomes. Cacao YABBY proteins formed five sub-categories (AtINO, AtCRC, AtYAB5, AtAFO and AtYAB2) based on the familiar Arabidopsis classification. Comparison of the synteny of cacao and Arabidopsis showed that a conserved orthologous relationship was present between the two species, indicating the evolutionary presence of YABBY genes in dicot species. Ka/Ks analysis showed that TcYABBY genes have mostly evolved under severe purifying pressure. Promoter analysis revealed the presence of multiple hormone- and stress-responsive cis-regulatory elements, suggesting potential regulatory roles in growth and environmental responses. Functional enrichment and interaction analyses further supported the involvement of TcYABBY proteins in developmental and metabolic regulatory pathways. Comprehensively, this research paper offers an extensive framework of YABBY gene evolution and functional potential of cacao and is an important source of future functional characterization and breeding-related studies.

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