Genome-wide identification of the sorghum OVATE gene family and revelation of its expression characteristics in sorghum seeds and leaves

The OVATE gene family plays an important role in regulating the development of plant organs and resisting stress, but its expression characteristics and functions in sorghum have not been revealed. In this study, we identified 26 OVATE genes in the sorghum BTx623 genome, which were divided into four groups and distributed unevenly across 9 chromosomes. Evolutionary analysis showed that after differentiation between sorghum and Arabidopsis, the OVATE gene family may have experienced unique expansion events, and all OVATE family members were negatively selected. Transcriptome sequencing and RT-qPCR results showed that OVATE genes in sorghum showed diverse expression characteristics, such as gene SORBl_3001G468900 and SORBl_3009G173400 were significantly expressed in seeds, while SORBI_3005G042700 and SORBI_3002G417700 were only highly expressed in L1. Meantime, in the promoter region, a large number of hormone-associated cis-acting elements were identified, and these results suggest that members of the OVATE gene family may be involved in regulating specific development of sorghum leaves and seeds. This study improves the understanding of the OVATE gene family of sorghum and provides important clues for further exploration of the function of the OVATE gene family.