Xie Zhangshu, Yang Dan, Zhou Zhenzhong, Li Kan, Yi Penghui, Liu Aiyu, Zhou Zhonghua, Tu Xiaoju
Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Crop Physiology and Molecular Biology, Changsha, China.
Cotton Research Institute, Agricultural College, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, China.
Biotechnol J. 2023 Dec;18(12):e2300201. doi: 10.1002/biot.202300201. Epub 2023 Aug 24.
The members of the GRAS gene family play important roles in regulating plant growth and development, but their functions in regulating early plant maturity traits are still unknown. In this study, we used a series of bioinformatics tools to identify GRAS gene family members and investigate the function of the gene family (GhGRAS55) using a genome-wide database of upland cotton samples. A total of 58 members of the GRAS gene family were identified and screened, which were distributed on 21 chromosomes within the whole cotton genome. The results of the phylogenetic analysis showed that the genes of upland cotton, island cotton, African cotton, Raymond cotton, and Arabidopsis were distributed in subfamilies I-VIII, although subfamily II did not contain any upland cotton or Arabidopsis GRAS family members. The structures and other characteristics of the genes in this family were clarified using bioinformatics technology. The transcriptomic sequencing results for early and late maturing cotton species showed that the expression of most GRAS family genes, such as GhGRAS10, GhGRAS5511, and GhGRAS55, was lower in early maturing species than late maturing species. We also found that cotton plants with GhGRAS55 genes that were silenced by virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) technology showed early bud emergence phenotypes, so it could be speculated that the GhGRAS55 gene has the function of regulating early maturity in cotton.
GRAS基因家族成员在调控植物生长发育中发挥着重要作用，但其在调控植物早熟性状方面的功能仍不清楚。在本研究中，我们使用了一系列生物信息学工具来鉴定GRAS基因家族成员，并利用陆地棉样本的全基因组数据库研究该基因家族（GhGRAS55）的功能。共鉴定并筛选出58个GRAS基因家族成员，它们分布在整个棉花基因组的21条染色体上。系统发育分析结果表明，陆地棉、海岛棉、非洲棉、雷蒙德氏棉和拟南芥的基因分布在亚家族I-VIII中，尽管亚家族II不包含任何陆地棉或拟南芥GRAS家族成员。利用生物信息学技术阐明了该家族基因的结构和其他特征。早熟和晚熟棉花品种的转录组测序结果表明，大多数GRAS家族基因，如GhGRAS10、GhGRAS5511和GhGRAS55，在早熟品种中的表达低于晚熟品种。我们还发现，通过病毒诱导基因沉默（VIGS）技术使GhGRAS55基因沉默的棉花植株表现出早现蕾表型，因此可以推测GhGRAS55基因具有调控棉花早熟的功能。
