Catalase Gene Family in Durum Wheat: Genome-Wide Analysis and Expression Profiling in Response to Multiple Abiotic Stress Conditions

Catalase (CAT) is an antioxidant enzyme expressed by the <i>CAT</i> gene family and exists in almost all aerobic organisms. In fact, the CAT enzyme modulates the hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) contents in cells by translating this toxic compound into water (H₂O) and O₂⁻ to reduce reactive oxygen species (ROS) contents in cells. ROS are produced as a result of biotic and abiotic environmental stressors. To avoid ROS toxicity, plants are armed with different enzymatic and non-enzymatic systems to decompose ROS. Among the enzymatic system, CAT proteins are well studied. CAT not only controls growth and development in plants but is also involved in plant defense against different stresses. So far, the <i>CAT</i> gene family has not been reported in durum wheat (<i>Triticum turgidum</i> ssp. <i>durum</i> L.). Therefore, a genome-wide comprehensive analysis was conducted to classify the <i>CAT</i> genes in the durum wheat genome. Here, six <i>TdCAT</i> genes were identified. Based on phylogenetics, the <i>TdCAT</i> genes belong to three groups (Groups I–III) which is explainable by their comparable structural characteristics. Using bio-informatic analysis, we found that the secondary and tertiary structures were conserved among plants and present similar structures among durum wheat CATs. Two conserved domains (pfam00199 and pfam06628) are also present in all identified proteins, which have different subcellular localizations: peroxisome and mitochondrion. By analyzing their promoters, different cis-elements were identified, such as hormone-correlated response and stress-related responsive elements. Finally, we studied the expression pattern of two catalase genes belonging to two different sub-classes under different abiotic stresses. Expression profiling revealed that TdCAT2 and TdCAT3 presented a constitutive expression pattern. Moreover, both genes are induced in response to salt, mannitol, cold, heat and ABA. Thus, we speculate that those genes are activated by different stresses, such as oxygen deficiency, light, cold, abscisic acid and methyl jasmonate. Further, this study will help in understanding the behavior of <i>CAT</i> genes during environmental stress in durum wheat and in <i>Triticeae</i> species in general.