Genetic Diversity and Characterization of DPE1 Gene in Rice Germplasm

Disproportionating Enzyme 1 (DPE1) is an a-1,4-D-glucanotransferase that cleavages the a-1,4-glucosidic bonds and transfers glucosyl groups. In rice endosperm, it participates in starch synthesis by transferring maltooligosyl groups from amylose and amylopectin to amylopectin. Here, we investigated the haplotype variations and evolutionary indices (e.g., genetic diversity and population structure) for the DPE1 gene in 374 rice accessions representing seven subgroups (wild, indica, temperate japonica, tropical japonica, aus, aromatic, and admixture). Variant calling analysis of DPE1 coding regions leads to the identification of six functional haplotypes representing/occupying 8 nonsynonymous SNPs. Nucleotide diversity analysis revealed the highest pi-value in wild group (0.0556) compared to other cultivated groups, of which temperate japonica showed the most reduction of genetic diversity value (0.003). A significant positive Tajima's D value (1.6330) of admixture highlights sudden population contraction under balancing selection, while temperate japonica with the lowest Tajima's D value (-1.3523) showed a selection signature of DPE1 domestication which might be the cause of excess of rare alleles. Moreover, these two subpopulations exhibits a greater differentiation (F_ST=0.0148), indicating a higher genetic diversity. Our findings on functional DPE1 haplotypes will be useful in future breeding programs, and the evolutionary indices can also be applicable in functional studies of the DPE1 gene.