Dai Maohua, Yang Xiaomin, Chen Quanjia, Bai Zhigang
Dryland Farming Institute, Hebei Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences/Hebei Key Laboratory of Crops Drought Resistance, Hengshui, China.
Engineering Research Centre of Cotton, Ministry of Education/College of Agriculture, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi, China.
Front Plant Sci. 2023 Apr 5;14:1163041. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1163041. eCollection 2023.
Starch metabolism is involved in the stress response. Starch synthase (SS) is the key enzyme in plant starch synthesis, which plays an indispensable role in the conversion of pyrophosphoric acid to starch. However, the SS gene family in cotton has not been comprehensively identified and systematically analyzed.
In our study, a total of 76 SS genes were identified from four cotton genomes and divided into five subfamilies through phylogenetic analysis. Genetic structure analysis proved that SS genes from the same subfamily had similar genetic structure and conserved sequences. A cis-element analysis of the SS gene promoter showed that it mainly contains light response elements, plant hormone response elements, and abiotic stress elements, which indicated that the SS gene played key roles not only in starch synthesis but also in abiotic stress response. Furthermore, we also conducted a gene interaction network for SS proteins. Silencing expression decreased the resistance of cotton to drought stress. These findings suggested that SS genes could be related to drought stress in cotton, which provided theoretical support for further research on the regulation mechanism of SS genes on abiotic starch synthesis and sugar levels.
淀粉代谢参与应激反应。淀粉合酶（SS）是植物淀粉合成中的关键酶，在焦磷酸转化为淀粉的过程中发挥着不可或缺的作用。然而，棉花中的SS基因家族尚未得到全面鉴定和系统分析。
在我们的研究中，从四个棉花基因组中总共鉴定出76个SS基因，并通过系统发育分析将其分为五个亚家族。遗传结构分析证明，来自同一亚家族的SS基因具有相似的遗传结构和保守序列。对SS基因启动子的顺式元件分析表明，它主要包含光反应元件、植物激素反应元件和非生物胁迫元件，这表明SS基因不仅在淀粉合成中起关键作用，而且在非生物胁迫反应中也起关键作用。此外，我们还构建了SS蛋白的基因相互作用网络。沉默表达降低了棉花对干旱胁迫的抗性。这些发现表明，SS基因可能与棉花的干旱胁迫有关，这为进一步研究SS基因对非生物淀粉合成和糖水平的调控机制提供了理论支持。
