Plant-specific trihelix transcription factor AtGT2L interacts with calcium/calmodulin and responds to cold and salt stresses

Liu

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

Trihelix gene family is an important transcription factor (TF) family involved in plants’ growth and development. This extensive study of trihelix genes from Arabidopsis thaliana to Brassica rapa could shed light on the evolution in plants and support crop breeding. In this study, a total of 52 trihelix genes were identified in B.rapa. Whole-genome annotation, molecular-evolution and gene-expression analyses of all known trihelix genes were conducted. By statistics of the number of trihelix genes in each species, we found the expansion of trihelix gene family started with angiosperm evolution. And SIP1 was more preferentially retained than other subgroups (GT-1, GT-2, GTγ, SH4), consistent with the gene dosage hypothesis. Then we investigated the evolutionary patterns, footprints and conservation of trihelix genes in selected plants. The putative trihelix proteins were highly conserved, but their expression patterns varied. Half of these genes were highly expressed in all the selected organs but some showed tissue-specific expression patterns. Furthermore, among six abiotic stresses (Cold, Heat, PEG, NaCl, ABA and GA), most trihelix genes were activated by salt and ABA treatment. In summary, the phylogenetic, evolution and expression analyses of trihelix gene family in B.rapa establish a solid foundation for future comprehensive functional analysis of BraTHs.

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Genome-wide Analysis and Expression Divergence of the Trihelix family in Brassica Rapa: Insight into the Evolutionary Patterns in Plants

Liu

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

“…Nowadays, a lot of EF-hand proteins have been documented to mediate plant response and tolerance to various environmental stresses (Weinl and Kudla, 2009; Xi et al, 2012; Bender and Snedden, 2013; Boudsocq and Sheen, 2013; Zhang et al, 2014; Zeng et al, 2015). For example, Arabidopsis CaM3 is involved in heat shock signal transduction because cam3 mutant was more sensitive to heat stress (Zhang et al, 2009); Arabidopsis CML9 knockout mutant plants express more tolerance to salinity and drought (Magnan et al, 2008); overexpression of GmCaM4 confers soybean enhanced resistances to pathogens and salt stress (Rao et al, 2014); overexpression of rice CML4 enhances drought tolerance in transgenic rice (Yin et al, 2015); Arabidopsis cml42 mutant plants are more resistant to herbivory than the wild type plants (Vadassery et al, 2012); Arabidopsis CBL1, CBL2, CBL3, CBL4, CBL9, and CBL10 are involved in cellular ion homeostasis regulation (e.g., Na + , K + , Mg 2+ , and NO 3 - ) (Weinl and Kudla, 2009; Tang et al, 2015); overexpression of Arabidopsis CBL5 and soybean CBL1 improves salt and drought tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis plants (Cheong et al, 2010; Li et al, 2012); Arabidopsis CDPK8 functions in ABA-mediated stomatal regulation in response to drought by phosphorylating CATALASE3 (Zou et al, 2015); rice CPK21 positively regulates salt stress tolerance (Asano et al, 2011); overexpression of a Medicago EF-hand protein gene MtCaMP1 enhances drought and salt stress tolerance (Wang et al, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of EF-Hand Proteins in Soybean Genome Suggests Their Potential Roles in Environmental and Nutritional Stress Signaling

Zeng

Zhang

et al. 2017

Front. Plant Sci.

Calcium ion (Ca2+) is a universal second messenger that plays a critical role in plant responses to diverse physiological and environmental stimuli. The stimulus-specific signals are perceived and decoded by a series of Ca2+ binding proteins serving as Ca2+ sensors. The majority of Ca2+ sensors possess the EF-hand motif, a helix-loop-helix structure which forms a turn-loop structure. Although EF-hand proteins in model plant such as Arabidopsis have been well described, the identification, classification, and the physiological functions of EF-hand-containing proteins from soybean are not systemically reported. In this study, a total of at least 262 genes possibly encoding proteins containing one to six EF-hand motifs were identified in soybean genome. These genes include 6 calmodulins (CaMs), 144 calmodulin-like proteins (CMLs), 15 calcineurin B-like proteins, 50 calcium-dependent protein kinases (CDPKs), 13 CDPK-related protein kinases, 2 Ca2+- and CaM-dependent protein kinases, 17 respiratory burst oxidase homologs, and 15 unclassified EF-hand proteins. Most of these genes (87.8%) contain at least one kind of hormonal signaling- and/or stress response-related cis-elements in their -1500 bp promoter regions. Expression analyses by exploring the published microarray and Illumina transcriptome sequencing data revealed that the expression of these EF-hand genes were widely detected in different organs of soybean, and nearly half of the total EF-hand genes were responsive to various environmental or nutritional stresses. Quantitative RT-PCR was used to confirm their responsiveness to several stress treatments. To confirm the Ca2+-binding ability of these EF-hand proteins, four CMLs (CML1, CML13, CML39, and CML95) were randomly selected for SDS–PAGE mobility-shift assay in the presence and absence of Ca2+. Results showed that all of them have the ability to bind Ca2+. This study provided the first comprehensive analyses of genes encoding for EF-hand proteins in soybean. Information on the classification, phylogenetic relationships and expression profiles of soybean EF-hand genes in different tissues and under various environmental and nutritional stresses will be helpful for identifying candidates with potential roles in Ca2+ signal-mediated physiological processes including growth and development, plant-microbe interactions and responses to biotic and abiotic stresses.

“…Trihelix transcription factors play important roles in the regulation of developmental processes involving flowers4, trichomes, stomata, seed abscission layers and late embryogenesis and in responses to biotic and abiotic stresses567 or to treatments with phytohormones such as abscisic acid (ABA) or salicylic acid (SA)8. The Arabidopsis gene PETAL LOSS (PTL ), which belongs to the GT-2 group, regulates petal and sepal growth as well as sepal fusion9.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Comprehensive analysis of trihelix genes and their expression under biotic and abiotic stresses in Populus trichocarpa

Liu

et al. 2016

Sci Rep

Trihelix genes play important roles in plant growth and development and responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. Here, we identified 56 full-length trihelix genes in Populus trichocarpa and classified them into five groups. Most genes within a given group had similar gene structures and conserved motifs. The trihelix genes were unequally distributed across 19 different linkage groups. Fifteen paralogous pairs were identified, 14 of which have undergone segmental duplication events. Promoter cis-element analysis indicated that most trihelix genes contain stress- or phytohormone-related cis-elements. The expression profiles of the trihelix genes suggest that they are primarily expressed in leaves and roots. Quantitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis indicated that members of the trihelix gene family are significantly induced in response to osmotic, abscisic acid, salicylic acid, methyl jasmonate and pathogen infection. PtrGT10 was identified as a target gene of miR172d, which is involved in the osmotic response. Repression of PtrGT10 could increase reactive oxygen species scavenging ability and decrease cell death. This study provides novel insights into the phylogenetic relationships and functions of the P. trichocarpa trihelix genes, which will aid future functional studies investigating the divergent roles of trihelix genes belonging to other species.