The COBRA-like (COBL) gene family has been associated with the regulation of cell wall expansion and cellulose deposition. COBL mutants result in reduced levels and disorganized deposition of cellulose causing defects in the cell wall and inhibiting plant development. In this study, we report the identification of 24 COBL genes (GmCOBL) in the soybean genome. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the COBL proteins are divided into two groups, which differ by about 170 amino acids in the N-terminal region. The GmCOBL genes were heterogeneously distributed in 14 of the 20 soybean chromosomes. This study showed that segmental duplication has contributed significantly to the expansion of the COBL family in soybean during all Glycine-specific whole-genome duplication events. The expression profile revealed that the expression of the paralogous genes is highly variable between organs and tissues of the plant. Only 20% of the paralogous gene pairs showed similar expression patterns. The high expression levels of some GmCOBLs suggest they are likely essential for regulating cell expansion during the whole soybean life cycle. Our comprehensive overview of the COBL gene family in soybean provides useful information for further understanding the evolution and diversification of COBL genes in soybean.

中文翻译：

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全基因组分析的COBRA样基因家族支持大豆中全基因组复制的基因扩增。

的COBRA状（COBL）基因家族已经与细胞壁的膨胀和纤维素沉积的调节相关联。COBL突变体导致纤维素的水平降低和混乱的沉积，导致细胞壁缺陷并抑制植物发育。在这项研究中，我们报告了大豆基因组中24个COBL基因（GmCOBL）的鉴定。系统发育分析表明，COBL蛋白分为两组，在N端区域相差约170个氨基酸。该GmCOBL基因在20个大豆染色体中的14个中异质分布。这项研究表明，在所有甘氨酸特异的全基因组复制事件中，节段复制对大豆中COBL家族的扩展起了重要作用。表达谱表明，在植物的器官和组织之间，旁系同源基因的表达是高度可变的。仅20％的旁系基因对显示相似的表达模式。一些GmCOBLs的高表达水平表明它们可能是调节整个大豆生命周期中细胞膨胀所必需的。我们对COBL的全面概述大豆中的基因家族为进一步了解大豆中COBL基因的进化和多样化提供了有用的信息。