Departamento de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular, Edificio Severo Ochoa-C6, Campus Universitario de Rabanales y Campus de Excelencia Internacional Agroalimentario ceiA3, Universidad de Córdoba, 14071, Córdoba, Spain.
Unidad de Bioinformática, Servicio Central de Apoyo a la Investigación (SCAI), Universidad de Córdoba, 14071, Córdoba, Spain.
Sci Rep. 2019 Mar 20;9(1):4942. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-41210-4.
The plant VQ motif-containing proteins are a recently discovered class of plant regulatory proteins interacting with WRKY transcription factors capable of modulate their activity as transcriptional regulators. The short VQ motif (FxxhVQxhTG) is the main element in the WRKY-VQ interaction, whereas a newly identified variable upstream amino acid motif appears to be determinant for the WRKY specificity. The VQ family has been studied in several species and seems to play important roles in a variety of biological processes, including response to biotic and abiotic stresses. Here, we present a systematic study of the VQ family in both diploid (Fragaria vesca) and octoploid (Fragaria x ananassa) strawberry species. Thus, twenty-five VQ-encoding genes were identified and twenty-three were further confirmed by gene expression analysis in different tissues and fruit ripening stages. Their expression profiles were also studied in F. ananassa fruits affected by anthracnose, caused by the ascomycete fungus Colletotrichum, a major pathogen of strawberry, and in response to the phytohormones salicylic acid and methyl-jasmonate, which are well established as central stress signals to regulate defence responses to pathogens. This comprehensive analysis sheds light for a better understanding of putative implications of members of the VQ family in the defence mechanisms against this major pathogen in strawberry.
植物 VQ 基序包含蛋白是一类最近发现的植物调节蛋白，它们与 WRKY 转录因子相互作用，能够调节其作为转录调节因子的活性。短的 VQ 基序（FxxhVQxhTG）是 WRKY-VQ 相互作用的主要元件，而新鉴定的可变上游氨基酸基序似乎是 WRKY 特异性的决定因素。VQ 家族在多个物种中进行了研究，似乎在多种生物学过程中发挥着重要作用，包括对生物和非生物胁迫的反应。在这里，我们对二倍体（草莓）和八倍体（草莓）草莓物种中的 VQ 家族进行了系统研究。因此，鉴定了 25 个 VQ 编码基因，其中 23 个通过不同组织和果实成熟阶段的基因表达分析进一步得到证实。还研究了它们在草莓炭疽病（由子囊菌真菌胶孢炭疽菌引起）影响下的表达谱，以及对水杨酸和茉莉酸甲酯这两种植物激素的反应，水杨酸和茉莉酸甲酯是作为中央应激信号调节对病原体的防御反应的公认物质。这项全面的分析为更好地理解 VQ 家族成员在草莓主要病原体防御机制中的潜在作用提供了线索。
