Genome-Wide Identification of YABBY Gene Family in Cucurbitaceae and Expression Analysis in Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.).

Shuai Yin,Chang Liu,Ezra S Bartholomew,Sen Li,Hua Yang,Xiaofeng Chen,Ruijia Wang,Ying Wang,Yiming Gao,Huazhong Ren,Xingwang Liu

doi:10.3390/genes13030467

Shuai Yin, Chang Liu + Show 9 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/genes13030467

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Abstract

YABBY transcription factors play important roles in plant growth and development. However, little is known about YABBY genes in Cucurbitaceae. Here, we identified 59 YABBY genes from eight cucurbit species, including cucumber (C. sativus L.), melon (C. melon L.), watermelon (C. lanatus), wax gourd (B. hispida), pumpkin (C. maxima), zucchini (C. pepo L.), silver-seed gourd (C. argyrosperma), and bottle gourd (L. siceraria). The 59 YABBY genes were clustered into five subfamilies wherein the gene structures and motifs are conserved, suggesting similar functions within each subfamily. Different YABBY gene numbers in eight cucurbit species indicated that gene loss or duplication events exist in an evolutionary process across Cucurbitaceae. The cis-acting elements analysis implied that the YABBYs may be involved in plant development, and phytohormone, stress, and light responses. Importantly, YABBY genes exhibited organ-specific patterns in expression in cucumber. Furthermore, a gene CsaV3_6G038650 was constitutively expressed at higher levels at different fruit development stages and might play a crucial role in cucumber fruit development. Collectively, our work will provide a better understanding for further function identifications of YABBY genes in Cucurbitaceae.

Highlights

The YABBY gene family, which belongs to the zinc finger protein superfamily, is plant-specific transcription factors (TFs)
Analysis, 59 YABBYs were obtained in Cucurbitaceae, including 8 from cucumber (C. sativus L.), 4 from melon (C. melon L.), 9 from watermelon (C. lanatus), 5 from wax gourd (B. hispida), 11 from pumpkin (C. maxima), 9 from zucchini (C. pepo L.), 10 from silver-seed gourd (C. argyrosperma), and 3 from bottle gourd (L. siceraria) (Tables 1 and S1 )
[10,11], we found that the genes in eight cucurbit species are divided into five subfambottle gourd, melon, wax gourd, cucumber, watermelon, zucchini, silver‐seed gourd, and ilies, YAB1, YAB2, CRABS CLAW (CRC), INNER NO OUTER (INO), 1and

Summary

Introduction

The YABBY gene family, which belongs to the zinc finger protein superfamily, is plant-specific transcription factors (TFs). All YABBY members share two highly conserved domains that are characterized by a N-terminal C2C2 zinc finger domain and a helix–loop–. The first YABBY gene family was described and six members were identified in Arabidopsis, including YABBY1. It has been reported that the YABBY genes are unique to seed plants [4,5] and genome-wide identification studies of the YABBY gene family have been performed in various plant species, such as tomato (9) [6], Chinese cabbage (12) [7], rice (8) [8], and maize (13) [9]. The angiosperm YABBY genes can be classified into five subfamilies—YAB1, CRC, INO, YAB2, and YAB5 [10,11]. Substantial evidence has demonstrated that the YABBY genes play important roles in many aspects of plant growth and development, such as lateral organ development, establishment of polarity, and reproductive organ development in angiosperms [12,13].

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