Genome-Wide Identification of Eucalyptus Heat Shock Transcription Factor Family and Their Transcriptional Analysis under Salt and Temperature Stresses

Abstract

Heat shock transcription factors (HSFs) activate heat shock protein gene expression by binding their promoters in response to heat stress and are considered to be pivotal transcription factors in plants. Eucalyptus is a superior source of fuel and commercial wood. During its growth, high temperature or other abiotic stresses could impact its defense capability and growth. Hsf genes have been cloned and sequenced in many plants, but rarely in Eucalyptus. In this study, we used bioinformatics methods to analyze and identify Eucalyptus Hsf genes, their chromosomal localization and structure. The phylogenetic relationship and conserved domains of their encoded proteins were further analyzed. A total of 36 Hsf genes were identified and authenticated from Eucalyptus, which were scattered across 11 chromosomes. They could be classified into three classes (A, B and C). Additionally, a large number of stress-related cis-regulatory elements were identified in the upstream promoter sequence of HSF, and cis-acting element analysis indicated that the expression of EgHsf may be regulated by plant growth and development, metabolism, hormones and stress responses. The expression profiles of five representative Hsf genes, EgHsf4, EgHsf9, EgHsf13, EgHsf24 and EgHsf32, under salt and temperature stresses were examined by qRT-PCR. The results show that the expression pattern of class B genes (EgHsf4, EgHsf24 and EgHsf32) was more tolerant to abiotic stresses than that of class A genes (EgHsf9 and EgHsf13). However, the expressions of all tested Hsf genes in six tissues were at different levels. Finally, we investigated the network of interplay between genes, and the results suggest that there may be synergistic effects between different Hsf genes in response to abiotic stresses. We conclude that the Hsf gene family played an important role in the growth and developmental processes of Eucalyptus and could be vital for maintaining cell homeostasis against external stresses. This study provides basic information on the members of the Hsf gene family in Eucalyptus and lays the foundation for the functional identification of related genes and the further investigation of their biological functions in plant stress regulation.

Genome wide investigation of Hsf gene family in Phoebe bournei: identification, evolution, and expression after abiotic stresses

“…Interestingly, class B5 is absent from all three of the aforementioned plants, suggesting that it is relatively rare. The physicochemical properties of PbHsf proteins vary greatly, but they are all located in the nucleus (Table 1) as found for poplar (Zhao et al 2023) and E. grandis (Yuan et al 2022).…”

“…In contrast to annual herbaceous plants, trees are more susceptible to sustained damage from complex natural stresses due to their prolonged life cycle, and their genetic breeding and improvement are very challenging (Borthakur et al 2022). Among five representative EgHsf genes in Eucalyptus grandis, three are upregulated genes and two downregulated at 4 °C and two upregulated and three downregulated genes at 40 °C (Yuan et al 2022). When the seedlings were exposed to 200 mM NaCl, all five EgHsf genes were upregulated after 12 h and 24 h. These results suggest that Hsf genes play key roles in responding to abiotic stresses in woody plants.…”

“…Extensive studies of the Hsf gene family in many plants, especially woody plants, have benefited from the increasing availability of genome sequences. For example, 21 Hsf genes have been reported for Arabidopsis (21) (Nover et al 2001;Scharf et al 2012), 25 for rice (Mittal et al 2009), 25 for apple (Malus pumila) (Giorno et al 2012), 30 for poplar (Populus) (Zhao et al 2023), 22 for pineapple (Ananas comosus) (Wang et al 2021), and 36 for E. grandis (Yuan et al 2022) (Fig. 1B).…”

Genome-wide identification and expression analysis of the Eriobotrya japonica TIFY gene family reveals its functional diversity under abiotic stress conditions

“…Individual homologous genes of one-to-many or many-to-one purity were identified. Among them, seven EjTIFY genes ( EjJAZ16 , EjJAZ13 , EjJAZ15 , EjJAZ14 , EjJAZ9 , EjJAZ8 , and EjJAZ4 ) showed covariant associations among all five representative species, suggesting that these genes in the EjTIFY gene family played a vital role in the evolutionary process [ 33 ].…”

Characterization of the Fatty Acyl-CoA Reductase (FAR) Gene Family and Its Response to Abiotic Stress in Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

“…Through collinearity analysis, it was found that there are one pair, four pairs, and six pairs of FAR collinear gene pairs between rice and tomato, barley and B. distachyon, respectively, but there was no FAR collinearity between rice and Arabidopsis (Figure 5B). Meanwhile, we found that OsFAR4 exhibited collinearity in several representative species, except Arabidopsis, suggesting that OsFAR4 is more conserved and plays an important role in the evolutionary process [31].…”