Abstract
The basic leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factor family plays crucial roles in various aspects of biological processes. Currently, no information is available regarding the bZIP family in the important tropical crop cassava. Herein, 77 bZIP genes were identified from cassava. Evolutionary analysis indicated that MebZIPs could be divided into 10 subfamilies, which was further supported by conserved motif and gene structure analyses. Global expression analysis suggested that MebZIPs showed similar or distinct expression patterns in different tissues between cultivated variety and wild subspecies. Transcriptome analysis of three cassava genotypes revealed that many MebZIP genes were activated by drought in the root of W14 subspecies, indicating the involvement of these genes in the strong resistance of cassava to drought. Expression analysis of selected MebZIP genes in response to osmotic, salt, cold, ABA, and H2O2 suggested that they might participate in distinct signaling pathways. Our systematic analysis of MebZIPs reveals constitutive, tissue-specific and abiotic stress-responsive candidate MebZIP genes for further functional characterization in planta, yields new insights into transcriptional regulation of MebZIP genes, and lays a foundation for understanding of bZIP-mediated abiotic stress response.
Highlights
Belonging to group A basic leucine zipper (bZIP), have been confirmed to modulate transcription of abscisic acid (ABA)-dependent genes that carry the ABRE cis-element, resulting in ABA response or environmental adaptation
77 putative bZIP members were characterized from cassava, and further conserved domain detection confirmed that all the identified bZIPs harbor the conserved bZIP domain that is the basic characteristics of bZIP family
The results showed that the 77 MebZIPs could be assigned to 10 subfamilies, together with their orthologous bZIPs from Arabidopsis and rice
Summary
Belonging to group A bZIPs, have been confirmed to modulate transcription of ABA-dependent genes that carry the ABRE cis-element, resulting in ABA response or environmental adaptation. In Arabidopsis, accumulated evidence has suggested the roles of group A bZIPs, such as, AtbZIP39, AtbZIP36, AtbZIP38, AtbZIP66, AtbZIP40, AtbZIP35 and AtbZIP37, in abiotic stress response or ABA signaling[5,6]. Some bZIP family members, including OsbZIP23, OsbZIP46, OsbZIP71, and OsbZIP16, was confirmed to positively regulate plants resistance to abiotic stress[9]. Together, these evidences indicate that bZIPs are crucial transcription factors involved in plants response to abiotic stress. Due to the significance of bZIP TFs in various aspects of biological processes, especially for its crucial roles in abiotic stress response and ABA signaling, the bZIP family was chosen as a candidate for a systematic analysis in cassava
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