Applied Biotechnology Center, Wuhan University of Bioengineering, Wuhan 430415, China.
Aquatic Plant Research Center, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430074, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
Int J Biol Macromol. 2023 Apr 1;233:123543. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.123543. Epub 2023 Feb 4.
Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade signaling pathway plays pivotal roles in various plant biological processes. However, systematic study of MAPK cascade gene families is yet to be conducted in lotus. Herein, 198 putative MAPK genes, including 152 MAP3Ks, 15 MKKs, and 31 MPKs genes were identified in Nelumbo. Segmental duplication was identified as the predominant factor driving MAPK cascade gene family expansion in lotus. MAPK cascade genes in N. nucifera and N. lutea shared high degree of sequence homologies, with 84, 9, and 19 homologous MAP3K, MKK, and MPK gene pairs being detected between the two species, respectively, with most genes predominantly undergoing purifying selection. Gene expression profiling indicated that NnMAPK cascade genes were extensively involved in plant development and submergence stress response. Co-expression analysis revealed potential interaction between transcription factors (TFs) and NnMAPK cascade genes in various biological processes. NnMKK showed predicted interactions with multiple NnMAP3K or NnMPK proteins, which suggested that functional diversity of MAPK cascade genes could be as a result of their complex protein interaction mechanisms. This first systematic analysis of MAPK cascade families in lotus provides deeper insights into their evolutionary dynamics and functional properties, which potentially could be crucial for lotus genetic improvement.
丝裂原活化蛋白激酶（MAPK）级联信号通路在各种植物生物学过程中发挥着关键作用。然而，在荷花中，MAPK 级联基因家族的系统研究尚未进行。在此，在Nelumbo 中鉴定出 198 个推定的 MAPK 基因，包括 152 个 MAP3K、15 个 MKK 和 31 个 MPK 基因。片段复制被确定为驱动荷花 MAPK 级联基因家族扩张的主要因素。N. nucifera 和 N. lutea 中的 MAPK 级联基因具有高度的序列同源性，在这两个物种之间分别检测到 84、9 和 19 对同源的 MAP3K、MKK 和 MPK 基因对，大多数基因主要经历纯化选择。基因表达谱分析表明，NnMAPK 级联基因广泛参与植物发育和淹没胁迫反应。共表达分析揭示了转录因子（TFs）和 NnMAPK 级联基因在各种生物过程中的潜在相互作用。NnMKK 与多个 NnMAP3K 或 NnMPK 蛋白显示出预测的相互作用，这表明 MAPK 级联基因的功能多样性可能是由于其复杂的蛋白质相互作用机制。这是对荷花中 MAPK 级联家族的首次系统分析，深入了解了它们的进化动态和功能特性，这对荷花的遗传改良可能至关重要。
