Genome-wide characterization and analysis of bZIP transcription factor gene family related to abiotic stress in cassava

Abstract

The basic leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factor family plays crucial roles in various aspects of biological processes. Currently, no information is available regarding the bZIP family in the important tropical crop cassava. Herein, 77 bZIP genes were identified from cassava. Evolutionary analysis indicated that MebZIPs could be divided into 10 subfamilies, which was further supported by conserved motif and gene structure analyses. Global expression analysis suggested that MebZIPs showed similar or distinct expression patterns in different tissues between cultivated variety and wild subspecies. Transcriptome analysis of three cassava genotypes revealed that many MebZIP genes were activated by drought in the root of W14 subspecies, indicating the involvement of these genes in the strong resistance of cassava to drought. Expression analysis of selected MebZIP genes in response to osmotic, salt, cold, ABA, and H2O2 suggested that they might participate in distinct signaling pathways. Our systematic analysis of MebZIPs reveals constitutive, tissue-specific and abiotic stress-responsive candidate MebZIP genes for further functional characterization in planta, yields new insights into transcriptional regulation of MebZIP genes, and lays a foundation for understanding of bZIP-mediated abiotic stress response.

The ERF transcription factor family in cassava: genome-wide characterization and expression analyses against drought stress

“…Due to its deep root system, cassava can penetrate into deep soil layers and absorb water stored in soil33. Previous studies indicated that wild ancestor W14 was more tolerant to drought than cultivated varieties SC124 and Arg7293031. Therefore, we hypothesized that the function of MeERFs in drought tolerance has been differentiated in the roots and leaves of different genotypes.…”

“…Physiologically and morphologically researches have characterized that cassava is a kind of crop that highly resistant to drought and low-fertility2930313233. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying cassava responses to abiotic stress are poorly understood.…”

“…Due to the prominent characteristic on starch storage, it provides staple food for over 600 million people worldwide and also supplies raw material for production of bioethanol and industrial starch2728. Notably, cassava can effectively utilize light, heat and water resources, thus showing high resistance to drought and low-fertility environment2930. However, it is less known for the mechanisms underlying cassava resistant to abiotic stress.…”

The chaperone MeHSP90 recruits MeWRKY20 and MeCatalase1 to regulate drought stress resistance in cassava

“…With the completion of cassava genome sequencing (Wang et al , ), a large number of genes related to drought stress resistance have been identified via transcriptome analysis, including ethylene response factor family (ERF) genes (Fan et al , ), basic leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factor family (Hu et al , ), homeodomain‐leucine zipper (HD‐Zip) gene family (Ding et al , ), and myeloblastosis (MYB) transcription factor superfamily (Ruan et al , ). However, the specific functions of most genes in the drought stress resistance process of cassava remain to be further studied.…”

Translating the “Banana Genome” to Delineate Stress Resistance, Dwarfing, Parthenocarpy and Mechanisms of Fruit Ripening

“…Gene expression analysis in banana showed 74% bZIP genes had increased transcription levels under cold, drought, and salt stresses. Commensurate increase in transcription levels was also observed in other plants such as cassava (Hu et al, 2016b), Brachypodium distachyon (Liu and Chu, 2015) and maize (Wei et al, 2012). Post-genomic discovery of bZIPs (Hu et al, 2016a), microRNAs (Chai et al, 2015) along with key metabolites (Pandey et al, 2016) is expected to expedite the molecular breeding process by ushering in, understanding the role, these transcription factors in signal transduction, developmental processes and responses to abiotic stress in banana.…”