Expression profiling of the BpIAA gene family and the determination of IAA levels in Betula platyphylla tetraploids

Betula platyphylla Sukaczev tetraploids have significantly larger leaf, fruit and stoma (gigantic phenotype) than diploids of the same species; however, the mechanism underlying this difference remains unclear. Tetraploid B. platyphylla transcriptome data have indicated that the expression of genes related to indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) biosynthesis and signal transduction was altered after genome duplication. IAA exerts pleiotropic effects on growth and development by inducing the expression of Aux/IAA. We identified 20 Aux/IAA genes (BpIAA1-BpIAA20) in B. platyphylla distributed across 10 chromosomes. Multiple alignment and motif analyses revealed that nine BpIAA proteins shared all four conserved domains. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that Aux/IAA families were divided into four subfamilies and that there were two pairs of BpIAA sister genes. The BpIAAs were differentially expressed in diploids and tetraploids. Moreover, the expression levels of the nine BpIAA genes were specifically up-regulated in tetraploids from June to September compared with May (except August 5th) in tetraploids, while they were down-regulated in diploids. IAA levels were more than twofold higher in tetraploids than diploids during the vegetative season. These results indicate that genome duplication of B. platyphylla caused the up-regulated of genes involved in IAA synthesis, and the increased concentration of IAA may induce the constitutive expression of 20 BpIAA genes. Therefore, the significant changes in the expression patterns of the BpIAAs contributed to the gigantic phenotype of tetraploids to some extent. Our research sheds light on the phenotypic variations observed in B. platyphylla tetraploids.