Pan-WD40ome analysis of 26 diverse inbred lines reveals the structural and functional diversity of WD40 proteins in maize

• DOI: 10.1186/s12864-025-11342-1
• Publication Date: 2025-02-22T17:26:11Z
• Authors: Shenghui Ji; Pengfei Yin; Tao Li; Xiaoxia Du; Wenkang Chen; Renyu Zhang; Xiaohong Yang; Xuan Zhang
• Keywords: Inbred strain

The WD40 repeat proteins are crucial components of eukaryotic genomes and contribute to a wide array plant developmental processes environmental interactions. However, the true extent intraspecific diversity in plants is unclear. We defined nearly complete species-wide pan-WD40ome maize based on published genome sequences 26 nested association mapping (NAM) population founders. largely saturated with inclusion approximately 20 inbred lines, about 95% being present at least two architectural domains, additional consequent spatial protein structures suggested functional pan-WD40ome. This finding was supported by significant associations between 87 genes 19 agronomic, 3 kernel-quality, biotic-stress traits, as well multiple molecular pathways through which trait-associated were predicted function. In addition, exhibited abundant genomic variations among NAM Sequence analysis indicated that gene duplications translocations caused Helitron transposons may play important roles amplification during evolution family. summary, this study provides comprehensive framework for understanding structural other agronomically species complex genomes, excellent candidate genes/alleles genetic improvement.