Genome-wide identification of antioxidant component biosynthetic enzymes: comprehensive analysis of ascorbic acid and tocochromanols biosynthetic genes in rice

During the last two decades, several exciting reports have provided many advances in the role and biosynthesis of l-ascorbic acid (AsA) and tocochromanols, including tocopherols and tocotrienols, in higher plants. There are increasing bodies of experimental evidence that demonstrate that AsA and tocochromanols (especially tocopherols) play an important role as antioxidants and nutrients in mammals and photosynthetic organisms and are also involved in plant responses to stimuli. Although AsA and tocochromanol biosynthesis pathways have been well characterized using Arabidopsis, these pathways are still poorly understood in rice, which is an economically important monocot cereal crop. In this study using computational analysis of sequenced rice genome, we identified eight and seven potential non-redundant members involved in AsA and tocochromanol biosynthetic pathways, respectively. The results reveal that the common feature of these gene promoters is the combination of light-responsive, hormone-responsive, and stress-responsive elements. These findings, together with expression analysis in the MPSS database, indicate that AsA and tocochromanols might be co-related with the complex signaling pathways involved in plant responses.