Liu Hui, Liu Jian, Wei Yongxuan
Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Resources of Rubber Tree, Ministry of Agriculture, Rubber Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, Danzhou 571737, China.
College of Foreign Languages, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China.
Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2016 Oct 21;479(3):523-529. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2016.09.103. Epub 2016 Sep 21.
Metacaspases play critical roles in developmentally regulated and environmentally induced programmed cell death in plants. In this study, we systematically identified and analyzed metacaspase gene family in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). The results illustrated that tomato possesses eight metacaspase genes (SlMC1-8) located on chromosomes 1, 3, 5, 9, and 10. SlMC1-6 belonged to type I metacaspases and had 5 exon/4 intron structures. SlMC7 and 8 were type II metacaspases and had 2 and 3 exons, respectively. Expression analysis revealed distinct expression patterns of SlMCs in various tomato tissues. Cis-regulatory element prediction showed that there were many hormone- and stress-related cis-regulatory elements in SlMCs promoter regions. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis further demonstrated that most of the SlMCs were regulated by drought, cold, salt, methyl viologen, and ethephon treatments. This study provides insights into the characteristics of SlMC genes and laid the foundation for further functional analysis of these genes in tomato.
类半胱天冬酶在植物发育调控和环境诱导的程序性细胞死亡中发挥关键作用。在本研究中，我们系统地鉴定并分析了番茄（Solanum lycopersicum）中的类半胱天冬酶基因家族。结果表明，番茄拥有8个类半胱天冬酶基因（SlMC1 - 8），分布在第1、3、5、9和10号染色体上。SlMC1 - 6属于I型类半胱天冬酶，具有5个外显子/4个内含子结构。SlMC7和8是II型类半胱天冬酶，分别具有2个和3个外显子。表达分析揭示了SlMCs在番茄不同组织中的不同表达模式。顺式作用元件预测表明，SlMCs启动子区域存在许多与激素和胁迫相关的顺式作用元件。定量实时PCR分析进一步证明，大多数SlMCs受干旱、寒冷、盐、甲基紫精和乙烯利处理的调控。本研究为了解SlMC基因的特性提供了见解，并为进一步对这些基因在番茄中的功能分析奠定了基础。
