Summary: | Sucrose synthase (SUS) and sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS) are essential in plant sucrose metabolism. The potato is an important crop worldwide, but systematic analyses of the <i>StSUS</i> and <i>StSPS</i> gene families in potatoes are still lacking. Ten sucrose metabolism-related genes were identified in this study. The <i>SUSs</i> and <i>SPSs</i> could each be split into three subgroups through phylogenetic analysis. <i>StSUSIc</i> was the most highly expressed gene in different developmental tissues. Ka/Ks analysis showed that <i>StSUSIb</i> and <i>StSUSIc</i> were subjected to more-significant homozygous selection pressure. Our cis-acting element analysis of the <i>StSUS</i> and <i>StSPS</i> promoter sequences showed four elements: defense- and stress-responsive, hormone-responsive, light-responsive, and transcription factor elements. The expression of <i>StSUS</i> and <i>StSPS</i> genes was found to be regulated by circadian rhythm. In the treatments of 1% to 5% sucrose, glucose, and fructose, the expression of <i>StSUS</i> and <i>StSPS</i> family genes was enhanced by sucrose, but inhibited at high-glucose and fructose concentrations. This study identified six <i>StSUS</i> and four <i>StSPS</i> genes and analyzed their gene structure, conserved motifs, chromosome position, promoter elements, phylogenetic tree, and tissue-specific expression patterns. Our results will motivate more research into the biological process underlying the genes of sucrose metabolism in potatoes.
|