Bioinformatics analysis of the expansin gene family in plants and creating a database

Plants are eukaryotic organisms that produce their own food on earth. There are many living organisms in the plant kingdom and they are responsible for the production of oxygen, which is the source of life for living things. This makes plants important for living organisms that breathe. Plant cells, unlike other living cells, have a cell wall. The cell wall consists of a cellulosic structure that provides support to the plant, adds flexibility to the cell under turgor pressure, and is in the outermost layer. The cell wall is affected by many biotic and abiotic factors. Expansins are a family of proteins that act on the cell wall and allow it to expand. They are expressed in all plants and other organisms with a cell wall. It acts in the direction of expansion of the cell wall, provided that it is pH dependent. In plants; It is known to be involved in developmental processes such as cell growth, fruit ripening, and seed germination. The expansin gene family is divided into four subfamilies. These; alpha expansin (EXPA), beta expansin (EXPB), alpha-like expansin (EXLA) and beta-like expansin (EXLB). Within the scope of this thesis, bioinformatic analyzes such as determining the gene structures of the expansin genes, conserved motifs and showing the estimated three-dimensional structures of the expansin genes in a total of 70 plants were performed. In addition, a deep learning method was improved in order to determine which subfamily the expansins belong to. All of the analyzes were made into a database at http://www.expansingenefamily.com/. 'Expansin Gene Family' is an international database that can be accessed free of charge online. With this study, a very comprehensive database for the expansin gene family has been created and it is a pioneering study for scientists who want to work with expansin genes.