Bread wheat is a global staple crop and its production is constrained by various environmental stresses. Phytocyanins (PCs) are an ancient and plant specific group of proteins contributing to stress resilience, yet their genomic diversity in wheat genome is obscured. In this study, a comprehensive genome-wide screening approach identified 276 high-confidence TaPCs and classified these into four distinct subfamilies. Gene structure and conserved motifs analyses revealed higher genetic conservation among members of different subgroups. Segmental duplications are the primary driving force for gene family expansion with strong purifying selections potentially conserving the evolutionary stress associated functions. Promoter and gene ontology enrichment analyses highlighted diverse cis-acting regulatory elements particularly associated with stress tolerance. Furthermore, microRNA target site analysis predicted tae-miR408 as a significant player post-transcriptionally regulating the TaPCs expression. Moreover, combined transcriptomic and quantitative PCR expression data sets identified 15 candidate genes for drought, heat, and ABA tolerance. This study unveils the complete genomic atlas of TaPCs in wheat. These genes could be functionally characterized to decipher their regulatory mechanisms in climate resilience. Collectively, this research provides a valuable foundation for further genomics-assisted improvement of climate resilience in bread wheat.
Raza et al. (Mon,) studied this question.