In silico study of strictosidine synthase like (SSL) gene family in rice (Oriza sativa)

Strictosidine synthase is a key enzyme in the monoterpenoid indole alkaloids biosynthesis pathway. Proteins with Str_synth domain have been identified in plants, bacteria, insects and even mammalians and called Strictosidine synthase-like due to unknown functional roles. With the Arabidopsis and rice genome sequence completed, SSL genes were also identified in these plants. However, little is known about evolutionary path, gene structure, expansion and function of SSL family in rice. In this study, through bioinformatic analysis, a total of 23 SSL genes were identified in rice genome. A phylogenetic analysis of the SSL genes in rice and Arabidopsis clarified that these genes could be divided into four different groups and the evolutionary paths are different in rice and Arabidopsis. The OsSSL genes contained zero to five introns and were distributed across 10 out of 12 chromosomes at different densities and tandem duplication was a major cause in expanding this family. Promoter analysis showed the presence of several cis-regulatory elements related to stress and hormone response in regulatory region, indicating probable their role in stress response. Microarray-based expression analysis of OsSSL genes indicated that a few number of these genes were widely expressed in various tissues and also in response to some abiotic stresses. This study is the first report about SSL gene family in rice and provides a framework for further analysis of the biological functions of SSL genes in either rice or other crops.