Expression patterns of the poplar NF-Y gene family in response to Alternaria alternata and hormone treatment and the role of PdbNF-YA11 in disease resistance

Abstract

Plant nuclear factor-Y (NF-Y) transcription factors (TFs) are key regulators of growth and stress resistance. However, the role of NF-Y TFs in poplar in response to biotic stress is still unclear. In this study, we cloned 26 PdbNF-Y encoding genes in the hybrid poplar P. davidiana × P. bollena, including 12 PdbNF-YAs, six PdbNF-YBs, and eight PdbNF-YCs. Their physical and chemical parameters, conserved domains, and phylogeny were subsequently analyzed. The protein–protein interaction (PPI) network showed that the three PdbNF-Y subunits may interact with NF-Y proteins belonging to two other subfamilies and other TFs. Tissue expression analysis revealed that PdbNF-Ys exhibited three distinct expression patterns in three tissues. Cis-elements related to stress-responsiveness were found in the promoters of PdbNF-Ys, and most PdbNF-Ys were shown to be differentially expressed under Alternaria alternata and hormone treatments. Compared with the PdbNF-YB and PdbNF-YC subfamilies, more PdbNF-YAs were significantly induced under the two treatments. Moreover, loss- and gain-of-function analyses showed that PdbNF-YA11 plays a positive role in poplar resistance to A. alternata. Additionally, RT‒qPCR analyses showed that overexpression and silencing PdbNF-YA11 altered the transcript levels of JA-related genes, including LOX, AOS, AOC, COI, JAZ, ORCA, and MYC, suggesting that PdbNF-YA11-mediated disease resistance is related to activation of the JA pathway. Our findings will contribute to functional analysis of NF-Y genes in woody plants, especially their roles in response to biotic stress.

Genome-wide identification and expression analysis of NF-Y gene family in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.)

“…In alfalfa, MtNF-YC6 and MtNF-YC11 interacted with MtNF-YB12 and MtNF-YB17 and participated in the regulation of arbuscular development 16 . PdbNF-YA11 in poplar was involved in the resistance of poplar to Alternaria infection by regulating jasmonic acid (JA) synthesis and signaling pathways 17 . The expression of AhNF-YA4/A8/A11 , NF-YB4 and NF-YC2/C8 genes in peanut and PgNF-YB09 , PgNF-YC02 and PgNF-YC07-04 genes in ginseng had been shown to be induced by salt stress 18 , 19 .…”