Genome-wide analysis of AP2/ERF transcription factors in pineapple reveals functional divergence during flowering induction mediated by ethylene and floral organ development

The APETALA2/ethylene-responsive factor (AP2/ERF) has important roles in regulating developmental processes and hormone signaling transduction in plants. Pineapple demonstrates a special sensitivity to ethylene, and AP2/ERFs may contribute to this distinct sensitivity of pineapples to ethylene. However, little information is available on the AP2/ERF of pineapple. In this study, 97 AP2/ERF family members were identified from the pineapple genome. The AcAP2/ERF superfamily could be further divided into five subfamilies, and different subfamily existed functional divergence in multifarious biological processes. ERF and RAV subfamily genes might play important roles in the process of ethylene response of pineapple; ERF and DREB subfamily genes had particular functions in the floral organ development. This study is the first to provide detailed information on the features of AP2/ERFs in pineapple, provide new insights into the potential functional roles of the AP2/ERF superfamily members, and will facilitate a better understanding of the molecular mechanism of flower in pineapple.     

苹果DREB转录因子家族全基因组鉴定与分析

DREB转录因子属于AP2/ERF转录因子家族,能够与DRE/CRT顺式作用元件特异性结合,调控与逆境应答基因的表达,因而在植物应对低温、干旱、高盐等逆境胁迫中发挥重要作用。该研究利用苹果全基因组数据,通过生物信息学手段鉴定苹果DREB转录因子家族成员,并分析DREB转录因子家族保守域特点与功能及表达情况。结果表明:从苹果全基因组中共鉴定出60个DREB转录因子家族成员,与拟南芥和水稻相比基本一致,通过引入拟南芥DREB基因进行系统发生分析,进一步可以将其细分为6个亚组;结构域和保守元件分析表明,DREB基因家族含有一个AP2保守结构域;染色体定位表明,苹果DREB基因分布于11条染色体上,部分基因存在串联复制现象;基因结构分析显示,该亚家族基因不含内含子。利用同源拟南芥RNA-Seq数据分析结果表明,DREB转录因子家族对低温、ABA调节等非生物胁迫具有调控作用,同时在DREB亚家族中每个亚组响应不同的非生物胁迫;通过分析DREB基因在不同组织中的表达情况,结果显示DREB基因在植物根部中的表达量最强,其次是叶。     

新疆野苹果AP2/ERF转录因子家族鉴定与响应腐烂病的表达分析北大核心CSCD

AP2/ERF转录因子家族参与了植物生长发育、抵抗胁迫以及植物激素响应等诸多生物过程,是植物中最重要的转录因子家族之一。该研究基于腐烂病菌侵染后的新疆野苹果(Malus sieversii)全长转录组,使用AP2保守结构域的隐马可夫模型PF00847,鉴定新疆野苹果的AP2/ERF家族成员。利用MEGA6、NCBI CDD-batch、MEME、EXPASY、BUSCA对MsAP2/ERF家族成员进行鉴定、分类和结构分析、理化性质和亚细胞定位分析。通过RNA-seq数据和qRT-PCR实验对差异表达的MsAP2/ERFs基因的表达水平进行分析和验证,旨在鉴定新疆野苹果中潜在具有腐烂病抗性的AP2/ERF家族基因资源。结果显示:(1)在新疆野苹果中共鉴定获得106个AP2/ERF基因,涵盖全部AP2(17个)、ERF(57个)、DREB(25个)、RAV(5个)和Soloist(2个)5个亚家族。(2)进一步的细化分类发现MsERF亚家族包括B1-B6 6个组,而MsDREB亚家族中只有A2、A4、A5、A6共4个组,缺少A1和A3组的基因成员。(3)RNA-seq表达模式分析结果表明,29个MsAP2/ERF基因在腐烂病感染过程中差异表达,其中MsERF亚家族中差异表达基因数量最多(19个)。(4)12个MsAP2/ERF代表基因的qRT-PCR结果表明:8个ERF亚家族基因均受腐烂病病菌诱导显著上调表达,其中B4类ERF成员基因(MsERF40)在腐烂病病菌侵染后5 d表达量上调表达倍数最高;4个MsDREB基因中,3个受到腐烂病病原菌诱导显著上调,1个下调表达;此外,含有TIR保守结构域的MsERF05在腐烂病病菌侵染1 d后上调表达69倍,表明ERF亚家族的MsERF40和MsERF05在新疆野苹果抗腐烂病过程中发挥重要作用。该研究结果为新疆野苹果AP2/ERF基因响应腐烂病的功能和机理研究奠定了基础。     

Identification of candidate genes in Arabidopsis and Populus cell wall biosynthesis using text-mining, co-expression network analysis and comparative genomics

Populus is an important bioenergy crop for bioethanol production. A greater understanding of cell wall biosynthesis processes is critical in reducing biomass recalcitrance, a major hindrance in efficient generation of biofuels from lignocellulosic biomass. Here, we report the identification of candidate cell wall biosynthesis genes through the development and application of a novel bioinformatics pipeline. As a first step, via text-mining of PubMed publications, we obtained 121 Arabidopsis genes that had the experimental evidence supporting their involvement in cell wall biosynthesis or remodeling. The 121 genes were then used as bait genes to query an Arabidopsis co-expression database, and additional genes were identified as neighbors of the bait genes in the network, increasing the number of genes to 548. The 548 Arabidopsis genes were then used to re-query the Arabidopsis co-expression database and re-construct a network that captured additional network neighbors, expanding to a total of 694 genes. The 694 Arabidopsis genes were computationally divided into 22 clusters. Queries of the Populus genome using the Arabidopsis genes revealed 817 Populus orthologs. Functional analysis of gene ontology and tissue-specific gene expression indicated that these Arabidopsis and Populus genes are high likelihood candidates for functional characterization in relation to cell wall biosynthesis.