Genome-Wide Identification of TCP Transcription Factors Family in Sweet Potato Reveals Significant Roles of miR319-Targeted TCPs in Leaf Anatomical Morphology.

Lei Ren,Tianlong Wang,Tingting Zhang,Lei Zhang,Haixia Wu,Xinyu Ge,Daifu Ma,Wuyu Zhou,Aimin Wang

doi:10.3389/fpls.2021.686698

Lei Ren, Tianlong Wang + Show 7 more

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https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.686698

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Abstract

Plant-specific TCP transcription factors play vital roles in the controlling of growth, development, and the stress response processes. Extensive researches have been carried out in numerous species, however, there hasn’t been any information available about TCP genes in sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.). In this study, a genome-wide analysis of TCP genes was carried out to explore the evolution and function in sweet potato. Altogether, 18 IbTCPs were identified and cloned. The expression profiles of the IbTCPs differed dramatically in different organs or different stages of leaf development. Furthermore, four CIN-clade IbTCP genes contained miR319-binding sites. Blocking IbmiR319 significantly increased the expression level of IbTCP11/17 and resulted in a decreased photosynthetic rate due to the change in leaf submicroscopic structure, indicating the significance of IbmiR319-targeted IbTCPs in leaf anatomical morphology. A systematic analyzation on the characterization of the IbTCPs together with the primary functions in leaf anatomical morphology were conducted to afford a basis for further study of the IbmiR319/IbTCP module in association with leaf anatomical morphology in sweet potato.

Highlights

TCP transcription factors (TFs) belong to a small family of plant-specific TFs (Yin et al, 2018) named after its initial members TEOSINTE BRANCHED1 (TB1) in Zea mays L. (Doebley et al, 1997), CYCLOIDEA (CYC) in Antirrhinum majus L. (Luo et al, 1996), and PROLIFERATING CELL FACTORS 1 and 2 (PCF1 and PCF2) in Oryza sativa L. (Kosugi and Ohashi, 1997)
To obtain TCP genes in sweet potato, the TCP amino acid sequences of Arabidopsis and O. sativa were utilized as a reference to BLAST against the hexaploid sweet potato Genome Database, its diploid wild ancestor Sweetpotato Genomics Resource database, and PlantTFDB
The coding sequence (CDS) lengths of the IbTCPs varied from 396 bp (IbTCP8) to 1527 bp (IbTCP5)

Summary

Introduction

TCP transcription factors (TFs) belong to a small family of plant-specific TFs (Yin et al, 2018) named after its initial members TEOSINTE BRANCHED1 (TB1) in Zea mays L. (Doebley et al, 1997), CYCLOIDEA (CYC) in Antirrhinum majus L. (Luo et al, 1996), and PROLIFERATING CELL FACTORS 1 and 2 (PCF1 and PCF2) in Oryza sativa L. (Kosugi and Ohashi, 1997). TCP transcription factors (TFs) belong to a small family of plant-specific TFs (Yin et al, 2018) named after its initial members TEOSINTE BRANCHED1 (TB1) in Zea mays L. (Bao et al, 2019; Wang et al, 2019b), Solanum lycopersicum L. The TCP domain probably associated with the modulation of DNA binding (Kosugi and Ohashi, 2002) as well as protein–protein interactions (Dhaka et al, 2017). Based on the amino acid residue sequences of the TCP domain, TCPs can be categorized into two classes. The R domain rich in arginine with unknown function is present in all members of CYC/TB1 and probably mediating protein interactions through a coiled coil (Lupas et al, 1991; Cubas et al, 1999)

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