SCIENTIA HORTICULTURAE, cilt.250, ss.127-137, 2019 (SCI-Expanded)
Aromatic amino acids (AAA), phenylalanine (Phe), tyrosine (Tyr) and tryptophan (Trp), are essential molecules in the plant metabolism. In this study, three AAA biosynthesis genes, chorismate synthase (CS), chorismate mutase (CM) and anthranilate synthase (AS), were identified in genome-wide scale in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) genome. Also, bioinformatics analyses including sequence and phylogenetic analyses, predicted microRNAs targeting, digital expression and co-expression analyses and seconder and tertiary structure analyses of AAA proteins were performed. The expressions of AAA genes under drought and salt stresses were evaluated using Real Time-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). The promotor sequence analyses of the genes showed the presence of diverse cis-regularity elements, including light responsive, hormone responsiveness, heat stress responsiveness and elicitor-responsive elements. Based on the digital expression data, CS1 is more consistently expressed over CM1 and ASA1 through developmental stages in tomato. Co-expression network analyses revealed complex interactions between AAA genes and genes in other metabolic pathways. The expressions of AAA genes fluctuated between 0.93-2.23 fold under drought and salt stresses. Over all, it can be proposed that data obtained from this study could contribute to identification and functions of AAA genes under abiotic stress conditions for plants, particularly tomato.