Min Qinyue, Zheng Kaifeng, Pang Yanrong, Fang Yue, Zhang Yanfen, Qiao Feng, Su Xu, Chen Jinyuan, Han Shengcheng
Key Laboratory of Biodiversity Formation Mechanism and Comprehensive Utilization of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in Qinghai Province, College of Life Sciences, Qinghai Normal University, Xining, Qinghai, 810008, China.
College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
BMC Plant Biol. 2025 Apr 29;25(1):560. doi: 10.1186/s12870-025-06602-x.
Transcription factors (TFs) are crucial regulators of plant growth, development, and resistance to environmental stresses. However, comprehensive understanding of the roles of TFs in speciation of Orinus, an extreme-habitat plant on the Qinghai-Xizang (Tibet) Plateau, is limited.
Here, we identified 52 TF families, including 2125 members in Orinus, by methodically analysing domain findings, gene structures, chromosome locations, conserved motifs, and phylogenetic relationships. Phylogenetic trees were produced for each Orinus TF family using protein sequences together with wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) TFs to indicate the subgroups. The differences between Orinus and wheat species in terms of TF family size implies that both Orinus- and wheat-specific subfamily contractions (and expansions) contributed to the high adaptability of Orinus. Based on deep mining of RNA-Seq data between two species of Orinus, O. thoroldii and O. kokonoricus, we obtained differentially expressed TFs (DETFs) in 20 families, most of which were expressed higher in O. thoroldii than in O. kokonoricus. In addition, Cis-element analysis shows that MYC and G-box elements are enriched in the promoter region of DETFs, suggesting that jasmonic acid (JA) and abscisic acid (ABA) act synergistically in Orinus to enhance the signalling of related abiotic stress responses, ultimately leading to an improvement in the stress tolerance and speciation adaptation of Orinus.
Our data serve as a genetic resource for Orinus, not only filling the gap in studies of TF families within this genus but also providing preliminary insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying speciation in Orinus.
转录因子（TFs）是植物生长、发育及抗环境胁迫的关键调节因子。然而，对于青藏高原极端生境植物固沙草属（Orinus）中转录因子在物种形成过程中的作用，我们的全面了解还很有限。
在此，我们通过系统分析结构域发现、基因结构、染色体定位、保守基序和系统发育关系，鉴定出固沙草属中的52个转录因子家族，包括2125个成员。利用蛋白质序列与小麦（Triticum aestivum L.）转录因子构建了每个固沙草属转录因子家族的系统发育树，以表明亚组情况。固沙草属和小麦在转录因子家族大小方面的差异表明，固沙草属和小麦特有的亚家族收缩（和扩张）共同促成了固沙草属的高适应性。基于对固沙草属两个物种，即垂穗披碱草（O. thoroldii）和青海固沙草（O. kokonoricus）之间RNA测序数据的深度挖掘，我们获得了20个家族中差异表达的转录因子（DETFs），其中大多数在垂穗披碱草中的表达高于青海固沙草。此外，顺式元件分析表明，MYC和G-box元件在差异表达转录因子的启动子区域富集，这表明茉莉酸（JA）和脱落酸（ABA）在固沙草属中协同作用，增强相关非生物胁迫响应的信号传导，最终导致固沙草属的胁迫耐受性和物种形成适应性得到改善。
我们的数据为固沙草属提供了遗传资源，不仅填补了该属转录因子家族研究的空白，还为固沙草属物种形成的分子机制提供了初步见解。
