Dataset Information

Genome-wide characterization and expression analysis of the heat shock transcription factor family in pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata).

ABSTRACT:

Background

Crop quality and yield are affected by abiotic and biotic stresses, and heat shock transcription factors (Hsfs) are considered to play important roles in regulating plant tolerance under various stresses. To investigate the response of Cucurbita moschata to abiotic stress, we analyzed the genome of C. moschata.

Results

In this research, a total of 36 C. moschata Hsf (CmHsf) members were identified and classified into three subfamilies (I, II, and III) according to their amino acid sequence identity. The Hsfs of the same subfamily usually exhibit a similar gene structure (intron-exon distribution) and conserved domains (DNA-binding and other functional domains). Chromosome localization analysis showed that the 36 CmHsfs were unevenly distributed on 18 of the 21 chromosomes (except for Cm_Chr00, Cm_Chr08 and Cm_Chr20), among which 18 genes formed 9 duplicated gene pairs that have undergone segmental duplication events. The Ka/Ks ratio showed that the duplicated CmHsfs have mainly experienced strong purifying selection. High-level synteny was observed between C. moschata and other Cucurbitaceae species.

Conclusions

The expression profile of CmHsfs in the roots, stems, cotyledons and true leaves revealed that the CmHsfs exhibit tissue specificity. The analysis of cis-acting elements and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) revealed that some key CmHsfs were activated by cold stress, heat stress, hormones and salicylic acid. This study lays the foundation for revealing the role of CmHsfs in resistance to various stresses, which is of great significance for the selection of stress-tolerant C. moschata.

SUBMITTER: Shen C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7557022 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Heat shock protein 70s (HSP70s) are highly conserved proteins that are involved in stress responses. These chaperones play pivotal roles in protein folding, removing the extra amounts of oxidized proteins, preventing protein denaturation, and improving the antioxidant system activities. This conserved family has been characterized in several crops under drought stress conditions. However, there is no study on HSP70s in pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata). Therefore, we performed a comprehensive analysis of this gene family, including phylogenetic relationship, motif and gene structure analysis, gene duplication, collinearity, and promoter analysis. In this research, we found 21 HSP70s that were classified into five groups (from A to E). These genes were mostly localized in the cytoplasm, chloroplast, mitochondria, nucleus, and endoplasmic reticulum (ER). We could observe more similarity in closely linked subfamilies in terms of motifs, the number of introns/exons, and the corresponding cellular compartments. According to the collinearity analysis, gene duplication had occurred as a result of purifying selection. The results showed that the occurrence of gene duplication for all nine gene pairs was due to segmental duplication (SD). Synteny analysis revealed a closer relationship between pumpkin and cucumber than pumpkin and Arabidopsis. Promoter analysis showed the presence of various cis-regulatory elements in the up-stream region of the HSP70 genes, such as hormones and stress-responsive elements, indicating a potential role of this gene family in stress tolerance. We furtherly performed the gene expression analysis of the HSP70s in pumpkin under progressive drought stress. Pumpkin is widely used as a rootstock to improve stress tolerance, as well as fruit quality of cucumber scion. Since stress-responsive mobile molecules translocate through vascular tissue from roots to the whole plant body, we used the xylem of grafted materials to study the expression patterns of the HSP70 (potentially mobile) gene family. The results indicated that all CmoHSP70s had very low expression levels at 4 days after stress (DAS). However, the genes showed different expression patterns by progressing he drought period. For example, the expression of CmoHSP70-4 (in subgroup E) and CmoHSP70-14 (in subgroup C) sharply increased at 6 and 11 DAS, respectively. However, the expression of all genes belonging to subgroup A did not change significantly in response to drought stress. These findings indicated the diverse roles of this gene family under drought stress and provided valuable information for further investigation on the function of this gene family, especially under stressful conditions.

Project description:BackgroundHeat shock response in eukaryotes is transcriptionally regulated by conserved heat shock transcription factors (Hsfs). Hsf genes are represented by a large multigene family in plants and investigation of the Hsf gene family will serve to elucidate the mechanisms by which plants respond to stress. In recent years, reports of genome-wide structural and evolutionary analysis of the entire Hsf gene family have been generated in two model plant systems, Arabidopsis and rice. Maize, an important cereal crop, has represented a model plant for genetics and evolutionary research. Although some Hsf genes have been characterized in maize, analysis of the entire Hsf gene family were not completed following Maize (B73) Genome Sequencing Project.ResultsA genome-wide analysis was carried out in the present study to identify all Hsfs maize genes. Due to the availability of complete maize genome sequences, 25 nonredundant Hsf genes, named ZmHsfs were identified. Chromosomal location, protein domain and motif organization of ZmHsfs were analyzed in maize genome. The phylogenetic relationships, gene duplications and expression profiles of ZmHsf genes were also presented in this study. Twenty-five ZmHsfs were classified into three major classes (class A, B, and C) according to their structural characteristics and phylogenetic comparisons, and class A was further subdivided into 10 subclasses. Moreover, phylogenetic analysis indicated that the orthologs from the three species (maize, Arabidopsis and rice) were distributed in all three classes, it also revealed diverse Hsf gene family expression patterns in classes and subclasses. Chromosomal/segmental duplications played a key role in Hsf gene family expansion in maize by investigation of gene duplication events. Furthermore, the transcripts of 25 ZmHsf genes were detected in the leaves by heat shock using quantitative real-time PCR. The result demonstrated that ZmHsf genes exhibit different expression levels in heat stress treatment.ConclusionsOverall, data obtained from our investigation contributes to a better understanding of the complexity of the maize Hsf gene family and provides the first step towards directing future experimentation designed to perform systematic analysis of the functions of the Hsf gene family.

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