Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
TROPICAL PLANT BIOLOGY, cilt.19, sa.24, ss.1-16, 2026 (SCI-Expanded)
Phytochromes detect the red and far-red light in plants and
phytochrome-mediated light signaling regulates essential developmental
processes, including seed germination, photomorphogenic transitions,
shade-avoidance responses, and stem growth. Although they have been
widely investigated in other important crop species such as wheat and
rice, little is known about their organization and diversity in the
orphan crop Eragrostis tef. This study provides a thorough examination of phytochrome (PHY) genes in the tef genome. A total of six EtPHY
genes were identified, which were evenly distributed between
chromosomes Chr4A and Chr4B. Phylogenetic research indicated that the
six EtPHY genes were clustered into three phytochrome subfamilies, namely EtPHYA, EtPHYB, and EtPHYC. Synteny analysis revealed that the genes correspond to 12, 10, and 2 collinear gene pairs in Zea mays, Panicum virgatum, and Solanum lycopersicum, respectively. The Ka/Ks analysis indicated that EtPHY
gene pairs have expanded through whole-genome duplication (WGD) and
were under purifying selection pressure. The promoter regions of the EtPHY
genes include multiple motifs, including light-responsive,
developmental, hormone-responsive, and stress-responsive elements. The
protein-protein interaction analysis revealed that EtPHY proteins
interact with phytochrome interaction factors (PIFs), cryptochrome
photoreceptors, DNA photolyases, and members of the PPPDE thiol
peptidase family (Permuted Papain fold Peptidases of DsRNA viruses and
Eukaryotes), but do not interact directly with each other. The findings
provide a valuable foundation for further investigation of the PHY gene family in tef, particularly with respect to their potential roles in growth, development, and stress responses.