Abstract
The nuclear factor Y (NF-Y) family is comprised of transcription factors that have been implicated in multiple plant biological processes. However, little is known about this family in potato. In the present study, a total of 41 StNF-Y genes were identified in the potato genome. In addition, the phylogenetic, gene structure, motif, and chromosomal location of this family were analyzed. The tissue expression profiles based on RNA-seq data showed that 27 StNF-Y genes had tissue-specific expression, while the remaining 14 had low expression in all tissues. Publicly available transcriptomics data from various abiotic stresses revealed several stress-responsive StNF-Y genes, which were further verified via quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction experiments. Furthermore, the StNF-YC9 gene was highly induced by dehydration and drought treatments. StNF-YC9 protein was mainly localized in the nucleus and cytoplasmic membrane. Overexpressing StNF-YC9 potato lines (OxStNF-YC9) had significantly increased in root length and exhibited stronger stomatal closure in potato treated by polyethylene-glycol and abscisic acid. In addition, OxStNF-YC9 lines had higher photosynthetic rates and decreased water loss under short-term drought stress compared to wild-type plants. During long-term drought stress, OxStNF-YC9 lines had higher proline levels, lower malondialdehyde content, and increased activity of several antioxidant enzymes, including superoxide dismutase, catalase, and peroxidase. This study increased our understanding of the StNF-Y gene and suggested that StNF-YC9 played an important role in drought tolerance by increased the photosynthesis rate, antioxidant enzyme activity, and proline accumulation coupled to lowered malondialdehyde accumulation in potato.
Highlights
Nuclear factor Y (NF-Y) is a ubiquitous transcription factor family that is found in almost all eukaryotes (Myers and Holt, 2018)
StNF-Ys could be divided into three subfamilies, including 10 StNF-YAs, 22 StNF-YBs, and 9 StNF-YCs (Supplementary Table S2)
The proteins encoded by the StNFYA genes ranged from 196 (StNF-YA8) to 311 (StNF-YA1) amino acids in length, while their molecular weights ranged from 22.06 (StNF-Y A8) to 33.97 (StNF-YA1) KDa and their isoelectric points ranged from 6.5 (StNF-YA2) to 9.65 (StNF-YA6; Supplementary Table S2)
Summary
Nuclear factor Y (NF-Y) is a ubiquitous transcription factor family that is found in almost all eukaryotes (Myers and Holt, 2018). NF-YB/C subunits contain a highly conserved histone fold domain (HFD) that is typically comprised of three α-helices (a1, a2, and a3) and another α-helix domain at the C-terminal region (Petroni et al, 2012) These structures determine the NF-YB and NF-YC subunit specificity in protein-DNA and protein-protein interaction (Kahle et al, 2005). Since the CCAAT box has been reported to be present in 25–30% of all eukaryotic gene promoters, the NF-Y family likely plays multiple roles, including growth and development, flowering time, photosynthesis, stress response, signal transduction, and nodulation (Mantovani, 1998; Zhao et al, 2016; Myers and Holt, 2018). A PdNF-YB21 was isolated from poplar that shown to have root-specific expression and positively regulate root growth, resulting in increased drought tolerance (Zhou et al, 2020)
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