State Key Laboratory of Crop Stress Biology for Arid Areas/Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Apple, College of Horticulture, Northwest A & F University, Yangling 712100, China.
Int J Mol Sci. 2018 Aug 21;19(9):2478. doi: 10.3390/ijms19092478.
Stress-associated proteins (SAPs) are novel A20/AN1 zinc finger domain-containing proteins that are now favorable targets to improve abiotic stress tolerance in plants. However, the SAP gene family and their biological functions have not been identified in the important fruit crop apple ( × Borkh.). We conducted a genome-wide analysis and cloning of this gene family in apple and determined that the overexpression of enhances drought tolerance in plants. We identified 30 SAP genes in the apple genome. Phylogenetic analysis revealed two major groups within that family. Results from sequence alignments and analyses of 3D structures, phylogenetics, genomics structure, and conserved domains indicated that apple SAPs are highly and structurally conserved. Comprehensive qRT-PCR analysis found various expression patterns for in different tissues and in response to a water deficit. A transgenic analysis showed that the overexpression of in transgenic plants markedly enhanced their tolerance to osmotic and drought stresses. Our results demonstrate that the SAP genes are highly conserved in plant species, and that can be used as a target gene in genetic engineering approaches to improve drought tolerance.
应激相关蛋白（SAPs）是新型 A20/AN1 锌指结构域蛋白，是提高植物非生物胁迫耐受性的有利靶点。然而，在重要的水果作物苹果（×Borkh.）中，SAP 基因家族及其生物学功能尚未确定。我们对该基因家族在苹果中的全基因组分析和克隆进行了研究，并确定了过表达 可增强 植物的耐旱性。我们在苹果基因组中鉴定了 30 个 SAP 基因。系统发育分析显示该家族内存在两个主要亚群。序列比对和 3D 结构分析、系统发育、基因组结构和保守结构域分析的结果表明，苹果 SAP 高度保守且结构保守。综合 qRT-PCR 分析发现 不同组织中的表达模式存在差异，并且对水分亏缺有反应。转基因分析表明，在转基因 植物中超表达 显著增强了其对渗透和干旱胁迫的耐受性。我们的结果表明，SAP 基因在植物物种中高度保守，并且可以作为遗传工程方法提高耐旱性的靶标基因。
