Characteristics and Expression Analysis of Invertase Gene Family in Common Wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.).

Invertase (INV) irreversibly catalyzes the conversion of sucrose into glucose and fructose, playing important role in plant development and stress tolerance. However, the functions of INV genes in wheat have been less studied. In this study, a total of 126 TaINV genes were identified using a genome-wide search method, which could be classified into five classes (TaCWI-α, TaCWI-β, TaCI-α, TaCI-β, and TaVI) based on phylogenetic relationship. A total of 101 were collinear with their ancestors in the synteny analysis, and we speculated that polyploidy events were the main force in the expansion of the gene family. Compared with TaCI, TaCWI and TaVI are more similar in gene structure and protein properties. Transcriptome sequencing analysis showed that expressed in multiple tissues with different expression levels. Among 19 tissue-specific expressed , 12 showed grain-specific expression pattern and might play an important role in wheat grain development. In addition, qRT-PCR results further confirmed that and show different expression in grain weight NILs. Our results demonstrated that the high expression of and may be associated with a larger TGW phenotype. This work provides the foundations for understanding the grain development mechanism.