scholarly journals Genome-wide identification and characterization of barley bHLH transcription factors and their expression in response to low nitrogen stress

Author(s):  
Xiaoyan Quan ◽  
Xiaoli Liang ◽  
Chunjuan Xie ◽  
Ning Yin ◽  
Ning Zhang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Improvement of low nitrogen (LN) tolerance or nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in crops is imperative for environment-friendly agriculture development. The basic helix–loop–helix (bHLH) transcription factors are involved in multiple abiotic stress, suitable as the candidate genes for improving LN tolerance. Little research was done on characterization of bHLH gene family and their response to LN stress in barley.Results: In this study, 168 bHLH genes were identified in barley through genome-wide analysis. HvbHLH proteins were classified into 26 subfamilies based on phylogenetic analysis with bHLH proteins from Arabidopsis thaliana and rice. The analysis of conserved motifs and gene structures supported the evolutionary relationships among these HvbHLH proteins. Further, analysis of stress-related cis-elements in the promoter regions showed that bHLH proteins in barley are probably involved in multiple stress responses. Finally, at least 16 bHLH genes were differentially expressed in two barley genotypes differing in LN tolerance under LN stress. Dynamic expression analysis showed that these differentially expressed genes (DEGs) differed between the two barley genotypes in response to LN stress.Conclusion: It is the first genome-wide analysis of bHLH family genes in response to LN stress in barley. The results indicate the distinct difference among HvbHLH genes in response to various abiotic stresses. The HvbHLHs specifically expressed in the LN-tolerant barley genotype XZ149 identified herein may be valuable for future function analysis of HvbHLH genes under LN stress and breeding for barley cultivars with LN tolerance.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Min Yang ◽  
Hu Yang ◽  
Ruibin Kuang ◽  
Chenping Zhou ◽  
Bingxiong Huang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background : As a superfamily of transcription factors (TFs), the basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) proteins have been identified and functionally characterized in many plants. However, no comprehensive analysis of the bHLH family in papaya ( Carica papaya L. ) has been reported previously. Results: In this study, a total of 73 CpbHLH genes were found in papaya, and these genes were classified into 18 subfamilies based on phylogenetic analysis, with one orphans. Almost all of the CpbHLH in the same subfamily shared similar gene structures and protein motifs according to an analysis of exon/intron organizations and motif compositions. The number of exons in CpbHLH genes varied from 1 to 11 with an average of 5. The amino acid sequences of the bHLH domains were quite conservative, especially Leu-27 and Leu-63. Promoter cis -element analysis revealed that most of the CpbHLH genes contained cis -elements that can respond to various biotic/abiotic stress-related events. Gene ontology (GO) analysis revealed that Cp bHLH mainly functions in protein dimerization activity and DNA-binding, and most Cp bHLH proteins were predicted to localize in the nucleus. Abiotic stress treatment and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) revealed some predicted CpbHLH genes that might be responsible for abiotic stress responses in papaya. Conclusions : A total of 73 bHLH transcription factors were identified from papaya, and their gene structures, conserved domains, sequence features, phylogenetic relationship, promoter cis -element, GO annotation and gene expression profiles responsible for abiotic stress were investigated. Our findings lay a foundation for further evolutionary and functional elucidation of Cp bHLHs. Keywords : papaya, genome-wide analysis, bHLH transcription factors, abiotic stress


Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 232
Author(s):  
Weiran Zheng ◽  
Haichao Hu ◽  
Qisen Lu ◽  
Peng Jin ◽  
Linna Cai ◽  
...  

Recent studies have shown that a large number of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) can regulate various biological processes in animals and plants. Although lncRNAs have been identified in many plants, they have not been reported in the model plant Nicotiana benthamiana. Particularly, the role of lncRNAs in plant virus infection remains unknown. In this study, we identified lncRNAs in N. benthamiana response to Chinese wheat mosaic virus (CWMV) infection by RNA sequencing. A total of 1175 lncRNAs, including 65 differentially expressed lncRNAs, were identified during CWMV infection. We then analyzed the functions of some of these differentially expressed lncRNAs. Interestingly, one differentially expressed lncRNA, XLOC_006393, was found to participate in CWMV infection as a precursor to microRNAs in N. benthamiana. These results suggest that lncRNAs play an important role in the regulatory network of N. benthamiana in response to CWMV infection.


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