Table 1

Sizes of the four expansin families in different plants

Species

EXPA

EXPB

EXLA

EXLB

Last common ancestor

12

2

1

2

Arabidopsis

26

6

3

1

Poplar

27

2

2

4

Rice

34

19

4

1

The number of genes in each family is listed for the three plant species whose genomes have been sequenced. The number of genes in the last common ancestor of monocots and eudicots was estimated from an analysis of the rice and Arabidopsis genomes [7]. Numbers for poplar do not include partial gene fragments and should be taken as minimum estimates given that its genome is incompletely sequenced. EXPA, α-expansin; EXPB, β-expansin; EXLA, expansin-like A; EXLB, expansin-like B.

Sampedro and Cosgrove Genome Biology 2005 6:242   doi:10.1186/gb-2005-6-12-242