What question did this study set out to answer?

This research aims to identify and characterize the CaM and CML gene families in chickpea to determine their roles in plant development and stress responses.

March 7, 2026Open Access

Genome-wide identification and characterization of CaM and CML gene family in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Key Points

This research aims to identify and characterize the CaM and CML gene families in chickpea to determine their roles in plant development and stress responses.
Conducted a genome-wide analysis of CaM and CML genes in chickpea.
Performed gene structure analysis to assess intron presence.
Mapped chromosomal locations of identified genes.
Executed Ka/Ks analysis to study evolutionary patterns of gene pairs.
Carried out promoter analysis to identify regulatory elements associated with stress and development.
Identified six CaM and twenty-three CML genes in chickpea.
Found that twenty-one out of twenty-three CML genes were intron-less, while CaMs were rich in introns.
Mapped thirty genes across seven chromosomes, with three located in scaffold regions.
Phylogenetic analysis revealed five orthologous groups, with group V containing the most members.
Identified cis-acting elements in promoters linked to abiotic stress and growth processes.

Abstract

Calcium (Ca2+) is a ubiquitous secondary messenger that conveys a variety of internal and external signals. Sensor proteins most likely detect these Ca2+ signals and can bind Ca2+ using the EF-hand motif, a helix-loop-helix structure. Calmodulins (CaMs) and calmodulin-like proteins (CMLs) are one of the major classes of calcium (Ca2+) sensors in plants. However, knowledge about the CaM and CML families in chickpea is still missing. To fill this knowledge gap, a comprehensive analysis of CaM and CML was performed in this study, and six CaM and twenty-three CML genes in chickpea were identified. The gene structure analysis showed that twenty-one out of twenty-three CaCMLs were intron-less, whereas all the CaCaMs were rich in introns. Their chromosomal locations showed that twenty-six out of twenty-nine genes could be mapped on seven chromosomes, and three genes i.e., CaCaM3, CaCML18, and CaCML20 are placed on the scaffold region. Ka/Ks analysis of orthologous and paralogous gene pairs indicated that all the CaCaM and CaCML gene pairs evolved through purifying selection. According to phylogenetic analysis, CaCaM and CaCML proteins were clustered into five orthologous groups. Group V contains the highest number of CaM and CML protein members of chickpea. Numerous cis-acting regulatory elements associated with abiotic stress, hormone signalling, and plant growth and development were identified through promoter analysis. Box 4 cis-acting regulatory element is present in all the CaCaM and CaCML promoter sequences. By analyzing the available transcriptome data, we generated a detailed expression profile of CaCaMs and CaCMLs across different tissues, such as root, shoot, mature leaf, flower bud, and young pod, various developmental stages of flowers, and different abiotic stress conditions. The identification and description of CaCaMs and CaCMLs in chickpea provide a framework for further functional characterization of these genes. These results suggest that the CaM and CML gene family may play an important role in growth and development of chickpea under normal and stress conditions.

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Cite This Study

Swain et al. (Wed,) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/69abc1015af8044f7a4e9b1f https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-37931-y

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