Abstract
Transcription factors (TFs), such as heat shock transcription factors (HSFs), usually play critical regulatory functions in plant development, growth, and response to environmental cues. However, no HSFs have been characterized in pineapple thus far. Here, we identified 22 AcHSF genes from the pineapple genome. Gene structure, motifs, and phylogenetic analysis showed that AcHSF families were distinctly grouped into three subfamilies (12 in Group A, seven in Group B, and four in Group C). The AcHSF promoters contained various cis-elements associated with stress, hormones, and plant development processes, for instance, STRE, WRKY, and ABRE binding sites. The majority of HSFs were expressed in diverse pineapple tissues and developmental stages. The expression of AcHSF-B4b/AcHSF-B4c and AcHSF-A7b/AcHSF-A1c were enriched in the ovules and fruits, respectively. Six genes (AcHSF-A1a , AcHSF-A2, AcHSF-A9a, AcHSF-B1a, AcHSF-B2a, and AcHSF-C1a) were transcriptionally modified by cold, heat, and ABA. Our results provide an overview and lay the foundation for future functional characterization of the pineapple HSF gene family.
Highlights
The living environment of plants is faced with many challenges, including cold, heat, drought, and salinity stresses (Hu & Xiong, 2014; Pereira, 2016; Zhu, 2016)
heat shock transcription factors (HSFs)-type DNA-binding domain (DBD) domains (Pfam: PF00447) amino acid sequences were submitted into Ananas comosus v3 Phytozome database v12.1
We found that some genes showed tissue-specific expression patterns, such as the AcHSF-B2a was mainly expressed in the fruit S7 stage, AcHSF-A2 and AcHSF-A6 are highly expressed in leaf and flower tissues
Summary
The living environment of plants is faced with many challenges, including cold, heat, drought, and salinity stresses (Hu & Xiong, 2014; Pereira, 2016; Zhu, 2016). Plants face heat stress when the temperature rises 10 to 15 degrees above the optimum growth environment. Heat stress affects plant development and growth and eventually leads to a decrease in crop yield. As a defense or signaling mechanism in response to environmental stresses, plants regulate the expression of several genes through different transcription factors (TFs). The heat shock transcription factor family of plants is involved in heat stress response and regulates the expression of several stress-responsive proteins, including heat shock proteins (HSPs), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), and catalase (CAT)
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