College of Horticulture, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, China.
Henan Key Laboratory of Fruit and Cucurbit Biology, College of Horticulture, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, China.
Genes (Basel). 2022 May 17;13(5):895. doi: 10.3390/genes13050895.
Pomegranate ( L.) is a kind of fruit with significant economic, ecological and health values. AP2/ERF transcription factors belong to a large group of factors mainly found in plants and play key roles in plant growth and development. However, AP2/ERF genes in pomegranate and their implication in development and postharvest preservation have been little described. In this study, 116 genes in pomegranate were identified and renamed based on their chromosomal distributions. Phylogenetic relationship with genes from other species, structures, duplications, annotations, -elements in promoter sequences, and protein-protein interaction networks among PgAP2/ERF proteins were comprehensively explored. Expression analysis revealed several associated with the phenotypes of pomegranate seed hardness, including , , , and . Subsequent analysis indicated that many differentially expressed genes are potentially important regulators of pomegranate fruit development. Furthermore, expression of more than one-half of was repressed in 'Tunisian soft seed' pomegranate fruit under low-temperature cold storage. The results showed that 1-MCP implicated in promoting postharvest preservation of 'Tunisian soft seed' pomegranate upregulated the , , , , and genes compared to those under low-temperature cold storage. This indicates that these genes are important candidate genes involved in pomegranate postharvest preservation. In summary, the findings of the present study provide an important basis for characterizing the family genes and provide information on the candidate genes involved in pomegranate fruit development and postharvest preservation.
石榴（L.）是一种具有重要经济、生态和健康价值的水果。AP2/ERF 转录因子属于主要在植物中发现的一类因子，在植物生长和发育中起着关键作用。然而，石榴中的 AP2/ERF 基因及其在发育和采后保鲜中的作用尚未得到充分描述。本研究基于其染色体分布，鉴定并重新命名了石榴中的 116 个基因。与其他物种基因的系统发育关系、结构、复制、注释、启动子序列中的元件以及 PgAP2/ERF 蛋白之间的蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用网络进行了综合探讨。表达分析揭示了与石榴种子硬度表型相关的几个基因，包括 、 、 、和 。随后的分析表明，许多差异表达的基因可能是石榴果实发育的重要调控因子。此外，在低温冷藏下，‘突尼斯软籽’石榴果实中超过一半的 基因被抑制表达。结果表明，1-MCP 参与促进‘突尼斯软籽’石榴的采后保鲜，与低温冷藏相比，其上调了 、 、 、 、和 基因的表达。这表明这些基因是参与石榴采后保鲜的重要候选基因。综上所述，本研究的结果为表征 家族基因提供了重要依据，并为参与石榴果实发育和采后保鲜的候选基因提供了信息。
