Genome Wide Analysis of Amino Acid Transporter Superfamily in Solanum lycopersicum.

Amino acid transporters (AATs) are integral membrane proteins and have several functions, including transporting amino acids across cellular membranes. They are critical for plant growth and development. This study comprehensively identified AAT-encoding genes in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), which is an important vegetable crop and serves as a model for fleshy fruit development. In this study, 88 genes were identified in the S. lycopersicum genome and grouped into 12 subfamilies, based on previously identified AATs in Arabidopsis, rice (Oryza sativa), and potato (Solanum tuberosum) plants. Chromosomal localization revealed that S. lycopersicum AAT (SlAAT) genes are distributed on the 12 S. lycopersicum chromosomes. Segmental duplication events contribute mainly to the expansion of SlAAT genes and about 32% (29 genes) of SlAAT genes were found to originate from this type of event. Expression profiles of SlAAT genes in various tissues of S. lycopersicum using RNA sequencing data from the Tomato Functional Genomics Database (http://ted.bti.cornell.edu/) showed that SlAAT genes exhibited tissue-specific expression patterns. Comprehensive data generated in this study will provide a platform for further studies on the SlAAT gene family and will facilitate the functional characterization of SlAAT genes.