Wu Aiyuan, Li Yanmei, Yang Shangwen, Chen Peng, Mao Juan, Chen Baihong
College of Horticulture, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, 730070, China.
Fruit Industry Service Center, Jingning, 743400, PR China.
BMC Plant Biol. 2025 Apr 11;25(1):461. doi: 10.1186/s12870-025-06501-1.
Iron (Fe) is indispensable to plants, playing a significant role in life activities such as respiration, chlorophyll biosynthesis, and photosynthetic electron transport. The decrease in pH caused by iron deficiency is related to the activation of H-ATPase in the root plasma membrane, although the reaction mechanism of this enzyme is not well understood in apples. The H-ATPase (HA) gene family has been extensively studied in Arabidopsis but is rarely reported in other species.
In this study, 14 HA genes were identified from the apple genome database through whole genome analysis. These apple H-ATPase (MdHAs) genes were classified into four subsets (I, II, IV, V) based on phylogenetic analysis. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that these genes exhibited diversity in gene structure, chromosomal distribution, conserved motifs, and cis-acting elements. The qRT-PCR analysis revealed that iron deficiency stress significantly induced the upregulation of nine MdHA genes (MdHA5-MdHA14). Furthermore, in the roots of iron deficiency-resistant rootstock variety QZ1 compared to the non-resistant variety QZ2, the expression levels of nine genes (including MdHA1, MdHA6-MdHA13) in QZ2 were significantly lower than those in QZ1. This study lays a foundation for further study on the function of HA gene family.
These findings suggest that the HA gene family is involved in the apple's response to iron deficiency. This study not only lays the groundwork for future research but also highlights the role of MdHAs in iron stress tolerance.
铁（Fe）对植物而言不可或缺，在呼吸作用、叶绿素生物合成及光合电子传递等生命活动中发挥着重要作用。缺铁导致的pH值下降与根质膜中H-ATP酶的激活有关，尽管该酶在苹果中的反应机制尚未完全明晰。H-ATP酶（HA）基因家族在拟南芥中已得到广泛研究，但在其他物种中的报道较少。
本研究通过全基因组分析从苹果基因组数据库中鉴定出14个HA基因。基于系统发育分析，这些苹果H-ATP酶（MdHAs）基因被分为四个亚组（I、II、IV、V）。生物信息学分析表明，这些基因在基因结构、染色体分布、保守基序和顺式作用元件方面呈现出多样性。qRT-PCR分析显示，缺铁胁迫显著诱导了9个MdHA基因（MdHA5-MdHA14）的上调。此外，与不抗缺铁的砧木品种QZ2相比，在抗缺铁砧木品种QZ1的根中，QZ2中9个基因（包括MdHA1、MdHA6-MdHA13）的表达水平显著低于QZ1。本研究为进一步研究HA基因家族的功能奠定了基础。
这些发现表明HA基因家族参与了苹果对缺铁的响应。本研究不仅为未来研究奠定了基础，还突出了MdHAs在铁胁迫耐受性中的作用。
