Genome wide characterization of phospholipase A & C families and pattern of lysolipids and diacylglycerol changes under abiotic stresses in Brassica napus L.

Plant phospholipase A (PLA) and C (PLC) families are least explored in terms of structure, diversity and their roles in membrane lipid remodeling under stress conditions. In this study, we performed gene family analysis, determined gene expression in different tissues and monitored transcriptional regulation of patatin-related PLA family and PLC family in oil crop Brassica napus under dehydration, salt, abscisic acid and cold stress. The identified 29 BnapPLA genes and 40 BnaPLC genes shared high similarities with Arabidopsis pPLAs and PLCs, respectively. This study highlighted the expression pattern of BnapPLAs and BnaPLCs in different tissues and their expression in response to abiotic stresses in Brassica napus. The results revealed that several members of BnapPLA3, PI-PLC1/2 and NPC1 were actively regulated by abiotic stresses. Lipid changes at different time points under stress conditions were also measured. Lipid profiling revealed that the level of lysophospholipids and diacylglycerol (DAG) showed a varied pattern of changes under different abiotic stress treatments. The change of lipids correlated with the transcriptional regulation of a few specific members of pPLA and PLC families. Our study suggested that A and C-type phospholipases in Brassica napus may have diverse physiological and regulatory roles in abiotic stress response and tolerance.