College of Coastal Agricultural Sciences, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang, 524088, People's Republic of China.
Planta. 2022 Sep 9;256(4):72. doi: 10.1007/s00425-022-03965-5.
SR proteins from sweet potato have conserved functional domains and similar gene structures as that of Arabidopsis and rice in general. However, expression patterns and alternative splicing regulations of SR genes from different species have changed under stresses. Novel alternative splicing regulations were found in sweet potato SR genes. Serine/arginine-rich (SR) proteins play important roles in plant development and stress response by regulating the pre-mRNA splicing process. However, SR proteins have not been identified so far from an important crop sweet potato. Through bioinformatics analysis, our study identified 24 SR proteins from sweet potato, with comprehensively analyzing of protein characteristics, gene structure, chromosome localization, and cis-acting elements in promotors. Salt, heat, and mimic drought stresses triggered extensive but different expressional regulations on sweet potato SR genes. Interestingly, heat stress caused the most active disturbances in both gene transcription and pre-mRNA alternative splicing (AS). Tissue and species-specific transcriptional and pre-mRNA AS regulations in response to stresses were found in sweet potato, in comparison with Arabidopsis and rice. Moreover, novel patterns of pre-mRNA alternative splicing were found in SR proteins from sweet potato. Our study provided an insight into similarities and differences of SR proteins in different plant species from gene sequences to gene structures and stress responses, indicating SR proteins may regulate their downstream genes differently between different species and tissues by varied transcriptional and pre-mRNA AS regulations.
甘薯中的 SR 蛋白一般具有与拟南芥和水稻保守的功能域和相似的基因结构。然而，不同物种的 SR 基因在受到胁迫时的表达模式和可变剪接调控发生了变化。在甘薯的 SR 基因中发现了新的可变剪接调控。富含丝氨酸/精氨酸的（SR）蛋白通过调节前体 mRNA 的剪接过程，在植物发育和应激反应中发挥重要作用。然而，迄今为止，一种重要的农作物甘薯还没有鉴定出 SR 蛋白。通过生物信息学分析，我们的研究从甘薯中鉴定出 24 种 SR 蛋白，全面分析了蛋白质特征、基因结构、染色体定位和启动子中的顺式作用元件。盐、热和模拟干旱胁迫对甘薯 SR 基因的表达产生了广泛但不同的调控作用。有趣的是，热胁迫对基因转录和前体 mRNA 可变剪接（AS）都造成了最活跃的干扰。与拟南芥和水稻相比，在甘薯中发现了对胁迫的组织和物种特异性转录和前体 mRNA AS 调控。此外，在甘薯的 SR 蛋白中还发现了新的前体 mRNA 可变剪接模式。我们的研究从基因序列到基因结构和应激反应，深入了解了不同植物物种中 SR 蛋白的相似性和差异性，表明 SR 蛋白可能通过不同的转录和前体 mRNA AS 调控在不同物种和组织中对其下游基因进行不同的调控。
