Comprehensive Genomic Analysis and Expression Profiling of the C2H2 Zinc Finger Protein Family Under Abiotic Stresses in Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.).

Yue Chen,Jingxian Sun,Huanle He,Run Cai,Duo Lv,Jian Pan,Keyan Zhang,Haifan Wen,Hui Du,Junsong Pan,Gang Wang

doi:10.3390/genes11020171

Yue Chen, Jingxian Sun + Show 9 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/genes11020171

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Journal: Genes	Publication Date: Feb 6, 2020
Citations: 22	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Shanghai Jiao Tong University

Abstract

Cucumber is one of the most important vegetables in the world. The C2H2 zinc finger protein (C2H2-ZFP) family plays an important role in the growth development and abiotic stress responses of plants. However, there have been no systematic studies on cucumber. In this study, we performed a genome-wide study of C2H2-ZFP genes and analyzed their chromosomal location, gene structure, conservation motif, and transcriptional expression. In total, 101 putative cucumber C2H2-ZFP genes were identified and divided into six groups (I–VI). RNA-seq transcriptome data on different organs revealed temporal and spatial expression specificity of the C2H2-ZFP genes. Expression analysis of sixteen selected C2H2-ZFP genes in response to cold, drought, salt, and abscisic acid (ABA) treatments by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction showed that C2H2-ZFP genes may be involved in different signaling pathways. These results provide valuable information for studying the function of cucumber C2H2-ZFP genes in the future.

Highlights

Transcription factors play an important role in plant growth development and abiotic stress responses
Cucumber genome sequences were acquired from the Cucurbit Genomics Database (CuGenDB; [34])
We found 105 candidate genes, and all putative genes were subsequently verified in the SMART and Pfam databases to confirm the existence of the C2H2-zinc finger protein (ZFP)

Summary

Introduction

Transcription factors play an important role in plant growth development and abiotic stress responses. More than 60 transcription factor families have been reported in plants [1]. The zinc finger protein (ZFP) family is widely distributed in the genome of eukaryotes [2,3]. The first zinc finger transcription factor to be found was TFIIIA in Xenopus oocytes [4]. According to the number and position of Cys (cysteine) and His (histidine) residues, zinc finger proteins can be classified into. C2H2, C4, C6, C4HC3, C3HC4, C2HC, C3H, and other types [5]. C2H2-ZFP, known as the TFIIIA type, is currently the most widely distributed and well-studied class of ZFPs in eukaryotic genomes [6]

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