Xue Baoping, Liang Zicong, Liu Yue, Li Dongyang, Liu Chang
College of Agronomy, Shenyang Agriculture University, Shenyang 110866, China.
Department of Plant Sciences, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China.
Plants (Basel). 2024 Oct 15;13(20):2883. doi: 10.3390/plants13202883.
Rapid Alkalization Factor (RALF) is a signaling molecule in plants that plays a crucial role in growth and development, reproductive processes, and responses to both biotic and abiotic stresses. Although RALF peptides have been characterized in and rice, a comprehensive bioinformatics analysis of the gene family in maize is still lacking. In this study, we identified 20 genes in the maize genome. Sequence alignment revealed significant structural variation among the family genes. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that RALF proteins from , rice, and maize can be classified into four distinct clades. Duplication events suggest that the expansion of the gene family in maize primarily relies on whole-genome duplication. genes are widely expressed across various tissues; are highly expressed in roots, while are predominantly expressed in anthers. RNA-seq and RT-qPCR demonstrated that the expression levels of , , and were significantly up-regulated and down-regulated in response to PEG and NaCl stresses, respectively. Overall, our study provides new insights into the role of the gene family in abiotic stress.
快速碱化因子（RALF）是植物中的一种信号分子，在生长发育、生殖过程以及对生物和非生物胁迫的响应中发挥着关键作用。尽管RALF肽已在拟南芥和水稻中得到表征，但对玉米中RALF基因家族的全面生物信息学分析仍然缺乏。在本研究中，我们在玉米基因组中鉴定出20个RALF基因。序列比对揭示了RALF家族基因之间存在显著的结构变异。系统发育分析表明，来自拟南芥、水稻和玉米的RALF蛋白可分为四个不同的进化枝。复制事件表明，玉米中RALF基因家族的扩展主要依赖于全基因组复制。RALF基因在各种组织中广泛表达；其中一些在根中高表达，而另一些则主要在花药中表达。RNA测序和逆转录定量聚合酶链反应表明，在聚乙二醇（PEG）和氯化钠（NaCl）胁迫下，部分RALF基因的表达水平分别显著上调和下调。总体而言，我们的研究为RALF基因家族在非生物胁迫中的作用提供了新的见解。
