Sulfur (S) affects the plant life cycle and crop yield and has nutritional importance for human and animal diet. Its deficiency is one of the major problems in agriculture. However, the plant-specific LSU (response to Low SUlfur) gene family has not been extensively analyzed in major plant species such as grasses. | Turkish Journal of Biology Turk J Biol (2016) 40: 934-943 © TÜBİTAK doi: Research Article Genome-wide analysis of response to low sulfur (LSU) genes in grass species and expression profiling of model grass species Brachypodium distachyon under S deficiency 1 1 2, Hüseyin TOMBULOĞLU , Abdugaffar ABLAZOV , Ertuğrul FİLİZ * Department of Biology, Faculty of Science and Arts, Fatih University, Büyükçekmece, İstanbul, Turkey 2 Department of Crop and Animal Production, Çilimli Vocational School, Düzce University, Çilimli, Düzce, Turkey 1 Received: Accepted/Published Online: Final Version: Abstract: Sulfur (S) affects the plant life cycle and crop yield and has nutritional importance for human and animal diet. Its deficiency is one of the major problems in agriculture. However, the plant-specific LSU (response to Low SUlfur) gene family has not been extensively analyzed in major plant species such as grasses. In this study, we have performed in silico genome-wide analysis of LSU genes in 6 grass species, including Brachypodium distachyon, Sorghum bicolor, Oryza sativa, Zea mays, Triticum aestivum, and Panicum virgatum. All identified LSU genes contained one exon encoding proteins of acidic character with cytoplasmic localization. In silico analysis of ciselements revealed that sulfur-responsive elements (SURE boxes, SUlfur Response Element, GAGAC motif) were present in all LSU genes. In phylogenetic analysis, dicot and monocot LSU genes were separated. Expression profiles of B. distachyon BdLSU1 and BdLSU2 genes were analyzed by qRT-PCR method. Two Brachypodium LSU genes demonstrated different expression patterns when subjected to 48 h of S-depletion treatment. In roots, the BdLSU2 gene was upregulated, while BdLSU1 was downregulated. In leaves, expression levels were decreased for both genes. Analysis of the BdLSU expression under drought, cold, salt, and heat stresses
