Zhao Jingya, Liu Shengqin, Ren Hui, Afriyie Owusu Edwin, Zhang Mengzhu, Xu Dachao, Huang Xianzhong
College of Life Sciences, Shihezi University, Shihezi, 832003, China.
Center for Crop Biotechnology, College of Agriculture, Anhui Science and Technology University, Chuzhou, 233100, China.
BMC Genomics. 2025 Mar 29;26(1):309. doi: 10.1186/s12864-025-11513-0.
The 14-3-3 proteins are highly conserved regulatory eukaryotic proteins, which are crucial in growth, development, and stress responses. However, systematic characterization of the 14-3-3 gene family in Brassicaceae species and their evolutionary relationships have not been comprehensively reported.
This study conducted genome-wide identification, structural characteristics, and comparative evolutionary analysis of 14-3-3 gene family members in Arabidopsis thaliana, A. lyrata, A. pumila, Camelina sativa, and Brassica oleracea using comparative genomics. Overall, a total of 108 14-3-3 genes, which were phylogenetically classified into ε and non-ε groups were identified in the five species, with the non-ε members exhibiting more similar exon-intron structures and conserved motif patterns. Collinearity analysis revealed that the Brassicaceae 14-3-3 gene family members underwent varying degrees of expansion following whole-genome duplication (WGD) events. Notably, the number of 14-3-3 gene family members between A. lyrata and A. thaliana remained similar despite the former having approximately 1.66-fold larger genome size. In contrast, the number of 14-3-3 gene family members in A. pumila and C. sativa increased in proportionately to their genome size, while gene members in the more distantly related species to A. thaliana, B. oleracea, showed irregular expansion patterns. Selection pressure analysis revealed that 14-3-3 homologs in all the five species underwent purifying selection, with the group ε members experiencing relatively weaker purifying selection. Cloning of ApGRF6-2 gene from A. pumila indicated that the ApGRF6-2 protein was localized in the cell membrane and cytoplasm, while ectopic overexpression of ApGRF6-2 in A. thaliana could promote early flowering by upregulating the expression of floral meristem identity genes.
This study provides a comprehensive and systematic identification of the 14-3-3 gene family members in five Brassicaceae species using updated genome sequences, and the results could form a basis for further validation of functional and molecular mechanisms of 14-3-3 genes in plant growth, development, abiotic stress responses, as well as flowering regulation.
14-3-3蛋白是高度保守的真核生物调控蛋白，在生长、发育和应激反应中起关键作用。然而，尚未全面报道十字花科植物中14-3-3基因家族的系统特征及其进化关系。
本研究利用比较基因组学对拟南芥、琴叶拟南芥、矮小拟南芥、亚麻荠和甘蓝中的14-3-3基因家族成员进行了全基因组鉴定、结构特征分析和比较进化分析。总体而言，在这五个物种中总共鉴定出108个14-3-3基因，根据系统发育关系分为ε和非ε组，非ε成员表现出更相似的外显子-内含子结构和保守基序模式。共线性分析表明，十字花科14-3-3基因家族成员在全基因组复制（WGD）事件后经历了不同程度的扩增。值得注意的是，尽管琴叶拟南芥的基因组大小约为拟南芥的1.66倍，但其14-3-3基因家族成员数量与拟南芥仍相似。相比之下，矮小拟南芥和亚麻荠中14-3-3基因家族成员数量与其基因组大小成比例增加，而与拟南芥亲缘关系较远的物种甘蓝中的基因成员则表现出不规则的扩增模式。选择压力分析表明，所有五个物种中的14-3-3同源物都经历了纯化选择，其中ε组成员经历的纯化选择相对较弱。从矮小拟南芥中克隆ApGRF6-2基因表明，ApGRF6-2蛋白定位于细胞膜和细胞质，而在拟南芥中异位过表达ApGRF6-2可通过上调花分生组织特征基因的表达来促进早花。
本研究利用更新的基因组序列对五个十字花科物种中的14-3-3基因家族成员进行了全面系统的鉴定，研究结果可为进一步验证14-3-3基因在植物生长、发育、非生物胁迫反应以及开花调控中的功能和分子机制奠定基础。
