Department of Biological and Environment Sciences, University of Gothenburg, 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden.
Triticeae Research Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University, Wenjiang 611130, China.
Cells. 2023 May 20;12(10):1431. doi: 10.3390/cells12101431.
Large and rapidly increasing areas of salt-affected soils are posing major challenges for the agricultural sector. Most fields used for the important food crop (wheat) are expected to be salt-affected within 50 years. To counter the associated problems, it is essential to understand the molecular mechanisms involved in salt stress responses and tolerance, thereby enabling their exploitation in the development of salt-tolerant varieties. The myeloblastosis (MYB) family of transcription factors are key regulators of responses to both biotic and abiotic stress, including salt stress. Thus, we used the Chinese spring wheat genome assembled by the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium to identify putative MYB proteins (719 in total). Protein families (PFAM) analysis of the MYB sequences identified 28 combinations of 16 domains in the encoded proteins. The most common consisted of MYB_DNA-binding and MYB-DNA-bind_6 domains, and five highly conserved tryptophans were located in the aligned MYB protein sequence. Interestingly, we found and characterized a novel 5R-MYB group in the wheat genome. In silico studies showed that MYB transcription factors MYB3, MYB4, MYB13 and MYB59 are involved in salt stress responses. qPCR analysis confirmed upregulation of the expression of all these MYBs in both roots and shoots of the wheat variety BARI Gom-25 (except MYB4, which was downregulated in roots) under salt stress. Moreover, we identified nine target genes involved in salt stress that are regulated by the four MYB proteins, most of which have cellular locations and are involved in catalytic and binding activities associated with various cellular and metabolic processes.
受盐影响的土壤面积不断扩大，给农业部门带来了巨大挑战。预计在未来 50 年内，用于种植重要粮食作物（小麦）的大部分土地都将受到盐的影响。为了应对相关问题，了解盐胁迫响应和耐受的分子机制至关重要，从而能够利用这些机制开发耐盐品种。髓样细胞瘤（MYB）家族转录因子是生物和非生物胁迫（包括盐胁迫）响应的关键调节剂。因此，我们使用国际小麦基因组测序联盟组装的中国春小麦基因组，鉴定了可能的 MYB 蛋白（共 719 个）。对 MYB 序列的蛋白家族（PFAM）分析确定了编码蛋白中 16 个结构域的 28 种组合。最常见的组合由 MYB_DNA 结合和 MYB-DNA-bind_6 结构域组成，5 个高度保守的色氨酸位于对齐的 MYB 蛋白序列中。有趣的是，我们在小麦基因组中发现并鉴定了一个新的 5R-MYB 家族。计算机研究表明，MYB 转录因子 MYB3、MYB4、MYB13 和 MYB59 参与盐胁迫响应。qPCR 分析证实，在盐胁迫下，小麦品种 BARI Gom-25 的根和茎中，除 MYB4（在根中下调）外，所有这些 MYB 的表达均上调。此外，我们鉴定了 9 个参与盐胁迫的靶基因，这些基因受四种 MYB 蛋白的调控，其中大多数基因具有细胞位置，参与与各种细胞和代谢过程相关的催化和结合活性。
