Hao Qingnan, Zhang Ling, Yang Yanyan, Shan Zhihui, Zhou Xin-An
Oil Crops Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agriculture Sciences, Wuhan 430062, China.
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Key Laboratory for Biological Sciences of Oil Crops, Ministry of Agriculture, Wuhan 430062, China.
Plants (Basel). 2019 Jul 11;8(7):215. doi: 10.3390/plants8070215.
WUSCHEL-related homeobox (WOX) is a family of transcription factors that are unique to plants and is characterized by the presence of a homeodomain. The WOX transcription factor plays an important role in regulating plant growth and development and the response to abiotic stress. Soybean is one of the most important oil crops worldwide. In this study, based on the available genome data of soybean, the WOX gene family was identified by bioinformatics analysis. The chromosome distribution, gene and protein structures, phylogenetic relationship and gene expression patterns of this family were comprehensively compared. The results showed that a total of 33 putative WOX genes in the soybean genome were found and then designated as GmWOX1- GmWOX33, which were distributed across 19 chromosomes except chromosome 16. Multiple sequence analysis of the GmWOX gene family revealed a highly conserved homeodomain. Phylogenetic tree analysis showed that 33 WOX genes could be divided into three major clades (modern/WUS, intermediate and ancient) in soybean. Of these 33 WOX genes, some showed differential expression patterns in the tested tissues (leaves, pods, unopen and open flowers, nodules, seed, roots, root hairs, stems, shoot apical meristems and shoot tips). In addition, the expression profile and qRT-PCR analysis showed that most of the GmWOX genes responded to different abiotic stress treatments (cold and drought). According to the expression pattern of GmWOX genes in the high regeneration capacity soybean material P3, overexpression of GmWOX18 was selected for function analysis. The overexpression of GmWOX18 increased the regeneration ability of clustered buds. The results will provide valuable information for further studies on the roles of WOX genes in regulating soybean growth, development and responses to abiotic stress, as well as a basis for the functional identification and analysis of WOX genes in soybean.
WUSCHEL相关同源异型框（WOX）是植物特有的一类转录因子家族，其特征是含有一个同源异型结构域。WOX转录因子在调控植物生长发育以及对非生物胁迫的响应中发挥着重要作用。大豆是全球最重要的油料作物之一。在本研究中，基于已有的大豆基因组数据，通过生物信息学分析鉴定了WOX基因家族。全面比较了该家族的染色体分布、基因和蛋白质结构、系统发育关系以及基因表达模式。结果表明，在大豆基因组中总共发现了33个假定的WOX基因，随后将其命名为GmWOX1 - GmWOX33，它们分布在除16号染色体外的19条染色体上。对GmWOX基因家族的多序列分析揭示了一个高度保守的同源异型结构域。系统发育树分析表明，33个WOX基因在大豆中可分为三个主要分支（现代/WUS、中间和古老）。在这33个WOX基因中，一些在测试组织（叶片、豆荚、未开放和开放的花朵、根瘤、种子、根、根毛、茎、茎尖分生组织和茎尖）中表现出差异表达模式。此外，表达谱和qRT-PCR分析表明，大多数GmWOX基因对不同的非生物胁迫处理（寒冷和干旱）有响应。根据GmWOX基因在高再生能力大豆材料P3中的表达模式，选择GmWOX18进行过表达功能分析。GmWOX18的过表达提高了丛生芽的再生能力。这些结果将为进一步研究WOX基因在调控大豆生长、发育和对非生物胁迫响应中的作用提供有价值的信息，也为大豆中WOX基因的功能鉴定和分析奠定基础。
