小桐子半胱氨酸蛋白酶家族和相应miRNAs的鉴定及其对低温锻炼的响应

小桐子(Jatropha curcas)是一种极具潜力的能源植物及冷敏植物，12°C低温锻炼可显著提高其耐冷性。在全基因组水平上对小桐子半胱氨酸蛋白酶家族及靶向其基因的miRNAs进行鉴定、生物信息学分析和表达特性分析，并对该基因家族成员与miRNAs互作参与调控小桐子对低温锻炼的响应进行解析。结果表明，在小桐子基因组...

Identification of the Cysteine Protease Family and Corresponding miRNAs in Jatropha curcas and Their Response to Chill-hardening

Jatropha curcas is a kind of promising energy plants, but also a chilling-sensitive plant, which can be chill- hardening at 12°C with significant improvement of its chilling tolerance. In this study, the cysteine protease gene family of J. curcas and their corresponding miRNAs were identified at the genome-wide level. The results showed that a total of 39 cysteine protease genes were identified in J. curcas genome, which were located on 11 chromosomes and could be divided into six subfamilies (C1A, C2, C12, C13, C14 and C15); all encoding 181-2 158 amino acids with Cys and His active sites. Based on the sequencing results of miRNAome and degradome, 283 miRNAs were found to be targeted to 14 members of cysteine protease gene family. In addition, the co-expression analysis of those miRNAs targeting to JcDEK1, JcRD21B and JcXBCP3L during chill-hardening demonstrated significantly negative correlation during the chill-hardening at 12°C, suggesting that these miRNAs are involved in the regulation of the cysteine protease genes, and this regulation should be related to the enhancement of chilling tolerance induced by the chill-hardening. This study will be helpful for better understanding the function of cysteine protease gene family in J. curcas and the interaction of the family genes with their corresponding miRNAs, and how this interaction regulates the response of J. curcas to low temperature.