School of Life Sciences, Luoyang Normal University, Luoyang, Henan, China.
Technical Center of zhengzhou Customs Distric, Zhengzhou, Henan, China.
PeerJ. 2023 Aug 28;11:e15883. doi: 10.7717/peerj.15883. eCollection 2023.
The Apetala2 (AP2) gene family of transcription factors (TFs) play important functions in plant development, hormonal response, and abiotic stress. To reveal the biological functions and the expression profiles of genes in , genome-wide identification of HpAP2 family members was conducted.
We identified 21 AP2 TFs in using bioinformatic methods; their physical and chemical properties, gene structures, conserved motifs, evolutionary relationships, -acting elements, and expression patterns were investigated.
We found that based on the structural characteristics and evolutionary relationships, the gene family can be divided into three subclasses: euANT, baselANT, and euAP2. A canonical TF shared a conserved protein structure, while a unique motif 6 was found in , , and from the euANT subgroup, indicating potential biological and regulatory functions of these genes. Furthermore, a total of 59 -acting elements were identified, most of which were associated with growth, development, and resistance to stress in plants. Transcriptomics data showed that 57.14% of the genes in the AP2 family were differentially expressed in four organs. For example, was specifically expressed in roots and stems, whereas and were specifically expressed in leaves and flowers, respectively. , , and showed tissue-specific expression patterns and responded positively to hormones and abiotic stresses.
These results demonstrated that the HpAP2 family genes are involved in diverse developmental processes and generate responses to abiotic stress conditions in . This article, for the first time, reports the identification and expression profiles of the AP2 family genes in , laying the foundation for future functional studies with these genes.
转录因子（TFs）的 AP2 基因家族在植物发育、激素响应和非生物胁迫中发挥着重要作用。为了揭示 基因的生物学功能和表达谱，我们利用生物信息学方法对 HpAP2 家族成员进行了全基因组鉴定。
我们利用生物信息学方法在 中鉴定了 21 个 AP2 TF；研究了它们的理化性质、基因结构、保守基序、进化关系、顺式作用元件和表达模式。
基于结构特征和进化关系，我们发现该基因家族可分为三个亚类：euANT、baselANT 和 euAP2。一个典型的 TF 共享保守的蛋白质结构，而 euANT 亚组中的 、 和 发现了一个独特的基序 6，表明这些基因具有潜在的生物学和调控功能。此外，共鉴定出 59 个顺式作用元件，其中大多数与植物生长、发育和抗逆性有关。转录组学数据显示，AP2 家族的 57.14%的基因在四个器官中差异表达。例如， 在根和茎中特异性表达，而 和 分别在叶和花中特异性表达。 、 和 表现出组织特异性表达模式，并对激素和非生物胁迫有积极响应。
这些结果表明，HpAP2 家族基因参与了多种发育过程，并对 中的非生物胁迫条件产生响应。本文首次报道了 AP2 家族基因在 中的鉴定和表达谱，为这些基因的功能研究奠定了基础。
