Genome-Wide Characterization of Calmodulin and Calmodulin-like Protein Gene Families in Paulownia fortunei and Identification of Their Potential Involvement in Paulownia Witches’ Broom

As significant Ca(2+) sensors, calmodulin (CaM) and calmodulin-like proteins (CML), have been associated with a variety of environmental conditions in plants. However, whether CaMs/CMLs are related to the stress of phytoplasma infection has not been reported in Paulownia fortunei. In the current study, 5 PfCaMs and 58 PfCMLs were detected through a genome-wide investigation. The number of EF-hand motifs in all PfCaMs/CMLs varied. Bioinformatics analyses, including protein characteristics, conserved domain, gene structure, cis-elements, evolutionary relationship, collinearity, chromosomal location, post-translation modification site, subcellular localization and expression pattern analyses, represented the conservation and divergence of PfCaMs/CMLs. Furthermore, some PfCaMs/CMLs might be involved in plants’ reaction to phytoplasma infection and exogenous calcium therapy, indicating these genes may play a role in abiotic as well as biotic stress responses. In addition, subcellular localization analysis showed that PfCML10 was located in the cell membrane and nucleus. In summary, these findings establish a stronger platform for their subsequent functional investigation in trees and further characterize their roles in Paulownia witches’ broom (PaWB) occurrence.