茶树ZF-HD转录因子基因家族全基因组鉴定及其在非生物胁迫和植物激素处理下的表达谱分析

Abstract

In plants, zinc finger motif-associated homeodomain (ZF-HD) transcription factors (TFs) play indispensable roles in developmental processes and stress responses. However, the specific functions of members of the ZF-HD gene family in tea plants ( Camellia sinensis ) are poorly understood. We identified 18 CsZF-HD genes in tea at the whole-genome scale. These genes were phylogenetically classified into two major subfamilies: ZF-HD and MIF. Gene structural analyses showed that 13 of the 18 members have no introns. Analysis of transcriptome data revealed different spatio-temporal expression patterns of CsZF-HD genes in various tissues. On the basis of the cis -acting elements analysis, we detected the expression patterns of CsZF-HD genes under various abiotic and phytohormone treatments (drought, cold, exogenous SA, MeJA, ABA, and GA 3 ). Quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analyses confirmed the differential expression of CsZF-HDs under diverse stress and phytohormone treatments. The miRNAs that regulate CsZF-HD genes and their endogenous target mimics (eTMs) were predicted and investigated. The expression patterns of CsZF-HD10 and csn-miR172b-5p-3 were completely opposite under salicylic acid treatment. We also detected negative regulatory relationships between csn-miR2673a and CsZF-HD15 under salicylic acid treatment, between csn-miR399a-5 and CsZF-HD9 under abscisic acid treatment, and between csn-miR2673a and CsZF-HD3 under methyl jasmonate treatment during most sequential stages. The results indicate that the predicted eTM (LTCONS-00,013,981) of csn-miR2673a may indirectly modulate CsZF-HD expression by baiting relevant miRNAs under salicylic acid treatment. Together, these results lay the foundation for further research on the biological functions of CsZF-HDs.