Identification of gene family and their potential function in CGA synthesis and abiotic stresses tolerance in vegetable sweet potato.

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Hydroxycinnamate-CoA quinate hydroxycinnamoyl transferase (HQT) enzyme affect plant secondary metabolism and are crucial for growth and development. To date, limited research on the genome-wide analysis of family genes and their regulatory roles in chlorogenic acid (CGA) accumulation in leafy vegetable sweet potato is available. Here, a total of 58 family genes in the sweet potato genome (named ) were identified and analyzed. We studied the chromosomal distribution, phylogenetic relationship, motifs distribution, collinearity, and cis-acting element analysis of family genes. This study used two sweet potato varieties, high CGA content Fushu 7-6-14-7 (HC), and low CGA content Fushu 7-6 (LC). Based on the phylogenetic analysis, clade A was unique among the identified four clades as it contained genes from various species. The chromosomal location and collinearity analysis revealed that tandem gene duplication may promote the gene expansion and expression. The expression patterns and profile analysis showed changes in gene expression levels at different developmental stages and under cold, drought, and salt stress conditions. The expression analysis verified by qRT-PCR revealed that genes were highly expressed in the HC variety leaves than in the LC variety. Furthermore, cloning and gene function analysis unveiled that family genes are involved in the biosynthesis and accumulation of CGA in sweet-potato. This study expands our understanding of the regulatory role of genes in sweet-potato and lays a foundation for further functional characterization and genetic breeding by engineering targeted candidate genes in various sweet-potato varieties and other species.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12298-023-01299-4.