College of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China.
Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Jul 25;23(15):8166. doi: 10.3390/ijms23158166.
CCCH-type zinc finger proteins (ZFP) are a large family of proteins that play various important roles in plant growth and development; however, the functions of most proteins in this family are uncharacterized. In this study, a CCCH-type ZFP, AaZFP3, was identified in the floral organ of Adonis amurensis. Quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) analysis revealed that AaZFP3 was widely expressed in the flowers of A.amurensis. Subcellular localization analysis showed that the AaZFP3 protein was mainly localized to the cytoplasm in tobacco and Arabidopsis. Furthermore, the overexpression of AaZFP3 promoted early flowering in Arabidopsis under both normal and relatively low-temperature conditions. RNA-sequencing and qPCR analyses revealed that the expression of multiple key flowering-time genes was altered in transgenic Arabidopsis overexpressing AaZFP3 compared to wild-type. Of these genes, FLOWERING LOCUS T (AtFT) expression was most significantly up-regulated, whereas FLOWERING LOCUS C (AtFLC) was significantly down-regulated. These results suggest that the overexpression of AaZFP3 promotes early flowering in Arabidopsis by affecting the expression of flowering-time genes. Overall, our study indicates that AaZFP3 may be involved in flowering regulation in A.amurensis and may represent an important genetic resource for improving flowering-time control in other ornamental plants or crops.
CCCH 型锌指蛋白（ZFP）是一大类在植物生长发育中发挥各种重要作用的蛋白质，但该家族中的大多数蛋白质的功能尚未确定。本研究在侧金盏花的花器官中鉴定到一个 CCCH 型 ZFP，命名为 AaZFP3。实时定量 PCR（qPCR）分析显示，AaZFP3 在侧金盏花的花中广泛表达。亚细胞定位分析表明，AaZFP3 蛋白在烟草和拟南芥中主要定位于细胞质。此外，过表达 AaZFP3 可促进拟南芥在正常和相对低温条件下的早期开花。RNA-seq 和 qPCR 分析显示，与野生型相比，过表达 AaZFP3 的转基因拟南芥中多个关键开花时间基因的表达发生改变。在这些基因中，FLOWERING LOCUS T（AtFT）的表达上调最为显著，而 FLOWERING LOCUS C（AtFLC）的表达下调最为显著。这些结果表明，过表达 AaZFP3 通过影响开花时间基因的表达促进拟南芥的早期开花。总体而言，本研究表明 AaZFP3 可能参与了侧金盏花的开花调控，并且可能代表了改善其他观赏植物或作物开花时间控制的重要遗传资源。
