Dai Jie, Wu Yilei, Liu Jiang, Wei Ling, Zeng Yichun, Liu Sanmei, Zhang Jinchuan, Liu Gang, Huang Gaiqun
Sericultural Research Institute, Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences (The Special Economic Plants and Animals Research Institute, Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences), Nanchong, 637000, Sichuan, China.
BMC Genomics. 2025 Aug 12;26(1):744. doi: 10.1186/s12864-025-11843-z.
The DNA-binding with one finger (Dof) gene is a classical plant transcription factor with specific conserved structural domains, which plays an important role in the regulation of plant metabolism, root development, and stress defense mechanisms. In recent years, drought has severely jeopardized the growth and development of crops and is one of the main environmental factors limiting plant growth and reducing crop yields. Whether Dof family genes play a role in mulberry drought resistance is largely unknown.
To investigate the characteristics of the Dof gene family members in mulberry trees, 24 members of the mulberry Dof gene family were identified in the whole mulberry genome, and bioinformatics tools were employed to analyze the protein physicochemical properties, gene structure, phylogenetic evolution, conserved sequences, interaction networks, promoter cis-acting elements, and expression levels of Dof genes in mulberry.
Most of the mulberry Dof proteins were unstable, all were hydrophilic. Subcellular localization prediction showed that all proteins were localized in the nucleus. The prediction of promoter cis-elements showed that the MnDof (Morus notabilis L. Dof) gene family contained 75 promoter cis-elements for growth and development, hormone, light, and stress responses. Amino acid sequence alignment and phylogenetic tree analysis showed that all 24 Dof transcription factors contained zinc finger structural proteins. MnDof genes were distributed on all chromosomes except chromosomes 1, 2, and 7. A portion of MnDof genes responded to drought stress. These results provide information on the Dof gene family in mulberry and provide new insights into the function of MnDof genes in perennial plants, laying the foundation for further analysis of the function of these genes.
单指DNA结合（Dof）基因是一种具有特定保守结构域的经典植物转录因子，在植物代谢调控、根系发育和胁迫防御机制中发挥着重要作用。近年来，干旱严重危害了作物的生长发育，是限制植物生长和降低作物产量的主要环境因素之一。Dof家族基因是否在桑树抗旱中发挥作用尚不清楚。
为了研究桑树Dof基因家族成员的特征，在整个桑树基因组中鉴定出24个桑树Dof基因家族成员，并利用生物信息学工具分析了Dof基因在桑树中的蛋白质理化性质、基因结构、系统发育进化、保守序列、相互作用网络、启动子顺式作用元件和表达水平。
大多数桑树Dof蛋白不稳定，均为亲水性。亚细胞定位预测表明所有蛋白均定位于细胞核。启动子顺式元件预测表明，MnDof（鲁桑Dof）基因家族包含75个与生长发育、激素、光和胁迫响应相关的启动子顺式元件。氨基酸序列比对和系统发育树分析表明，所有24个Dof转录因子均含有锌指结构蛋白。MnDof基因分布在除第1、2和7号染色体外的所有染色体上。部分MnDof基因对干旱胁迫有响应。这些结果提供了关于桑树Dof基因家族的信息，并为多年生植物中MnDof基因的功能提供了新的见解，为进一步分析这些基因的功能奠定了基础。
