Evolutionary and expression analysis of Vitis vinifera OFP gene family

Ovate Family Proteins (OFPs), members of a novel transcriptional repressor family, were involved in multiple aspects of plant growth and development. Yet not much is known about grape (Vitis vinifera) OFP genes in a systematic way. Accordingly, grape OFP genes were identified and analyzed on aspects of structure, sequence similarity and expression pattern, aiming to enhance our understanding of grape OFP genes in both evolutionary and functional perspectives. Synteny analysis indicated that segmental duplication events contributed to family expansion, and several grape OFP genes arose before the divergence of grape and Arabidopsis thaliana. Phylogenetic and structure analysis provided further insight into the evolutionary conservation and divergence of grape OFP genes. Tissue-specific and flower organ expression analysis suggested their roles in both vegetative and reproductive tissue development. Expression pattern following gibberellic acid (GA(3)) treatment showed that grape OFP genes are GA responsive. Expression profiling of grape OFP genes during ovule development in multiple cultivars suggests their potential function in ovule development. Taken together, this is the first time grape OFP genes were studied in combination of evolutionary and functional way, which greatly adds our knowledge of grape OFP genes and provides candidate genes for future study.