Lu Jiuxing, Wang Tao, Xu Zongda, Sun Lidan, Zhang Qixiang
Beijing Key Laboratory of Ornamental Plants Germplasm Innovation & Molecular Breeding, National Engineering Research Center for Floriculture, Beijing Laboratory of Urban and rural ecological environment, College of Landscape Architecture, Beijing Forestry University, No.35 Qinghua east road, Haidian district, 100083, Beijing, China.
Mol Genet Genomics. 2015 Feb;290(1):303-17. doi: 10.1007/s00438-014-0918-1. Epub 2014 Sep 23.
Prunus mume is an ornamental flower and fruit tree in Rosaceae. We investigated the GRAS gene family to improve the breeding and cultivation of P. mume and other Rosaceae fruit trees. The GRAS gene family encodes transcriptional regulators that have diverse functions in plant growth and development, such as gibberellin and phytochrome A signal transduction, root radial patterning, and axillary meristem formation and gametogenesis in the P. mume genome. Despite the important roles of these genes in plant growth regulation, no findings on the GRAS genes of P. mume have been reported. In this study, we discerned phylogenetic relationships of P. mume GRAS genes, and their locations, structures in the genome and expression levels of different tissues. Out of 46 identified GRAS genes, 45 were located on the 8 P. mume chromosomes. Phylogenetic results showed that these genes could be classified into 11 groups. We found that Group X was P. mume-specific, and three genes of Group IX clustered with the rice-specific gene Os4. We speculated that these genes existed before the divergence of dicotyledons and monocotyledons and were lost in Arabidopsis. Tissue expression analysis indicated that 13 genes showed high expression levels in roots, stems, leaves, flowers and fruits, and were related to plant growth and development. Functional analysis of 24 GRAS genes and an orthologous relationship analysis indicated that many functioned during plant growth and flower and fruit development. Our bioinformatics analysis provides valuable information to improve the economic, agronomic and ecological benefits of P. mume and other Rosaceae fruit trees.
梅花是蔷薇科的一种观赏花卉和果树。我们对GRAS基因家族进行了研究，以改进梅花及其他蔷薇科果树的育种和栽培。GRAS基因家族编码转录调节因子，在植物生长发育中具有多种功能，如在梅花基因组中的赤霉素和光敏色素A信号转导、根的径向模式形成、腋芽分生组织形成和配子发生。尽管这些基因在植物生长调节中起着重要作用，但关于梅花GRAS基因的研究尚未见报道。在本研究中，我们分析了梅花GRAS基因的系统发育关系、它们在基因组中的位置、结构以及不同组织中的表达水平。在鉴定出的46个GRAS基因中，有45个位于梅花的8条染色体上。系统发育结果表明，这些基因可分为11组。我们发现X组是梅花特有的，IX组的三个基因与水稻特有的基因Os4聚类。我们推测这些基因在双子叶植物和单子叶植物分化之前就已存在，并在拟南芥中丢失。组织表达分析表明，13个基因在根、茎、叶、花和果实中表达水平较高，与植物生长发育相关。对24个GRAS基因的功能分析和直系同源关系分析表明，许多基因在植物生长以及花和果实发育过程中发挥作用。我们的生物信息学分析为提高梅花及其他蔷薇科果树的经济、农艺和生态效益提供了有价值的信息。
