Abstract
Heat shock transcription factors (HSFs) are central elements in the regulatory network that controls plant heat stress response. They are involved in multiple transcriptional regulatory pathways and play important roles in heat stress signaling and responses to a variety of other stresses. We identified 41 members of the HSF gene family in moso bamboo, which were distributed non-uniformly across its 19 chromosomes. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the moso bamboo HSF genes could be divided into three major subfamilies; HSFs from the same subfamily shared relatively conserved gene structures and sequences and encoded similar amino acids. All HSF genes contained HSF signature domains. Subcellular localization prediction indicated that about 80% of the HSF proteins were located in the nucleus, consistent with the results of GO enrichment analysis. A large number of stress response–associated cis-regulatory elements were identified in the HSF upstream promoter sequences. Synteny analysis indicated that the HSFs in the moso bamboo genome had greater collinearity with those of rice and maize than with those of Arabidopsis and pepper. Numerous segmental duplicates were found in the moso bamboo HSF gene family. Transcriptome data indicated that the expression of a number of PeHsfs differed in response to exogenous gibberellin (GA) and naphthalene acetic acid (NAA). A number of HSF genes were highly expressed in the panicles and in young shoots, suggesting that they may have functions in reproductive growth and the early development of rapidly-growing shoots. This study provides fundamental information on members of the bamboo HSF gene family and lays a foundation for further study of their biological functions in the regulation of plant responses to adversity.
Highlights
Heat shock transcription factors (HSFs) are central elements in the regulatory network that controls plant heat stress response
Forty-four putative HSF candidate genes were obtained from an HMMER3 search of the bamboo protein database using the plant HSF-type DNA-binding domain (DBD) model (Pfam PF00447) with an E-value threshold of ≤ 10−20
The predicted physicochemical properties of the amino acid sequences showed that the 41 HSF genes encoded proteins containing 159 (PeHsf03) to 512 (PeHsf30) amino acids and their molecular weights ranged from 17.49 (PeHsf03) to 56.33 kDa (PeHsf32)
Summary
Heat shock transcription factors (HSFs) are central elements in the regulatory network that controls plant heat stress response. High temperature and drought are important abiotic stresses that can promote chlorophyll degradation, damage chloroplast membrane mechanisms, and reduce photosynthetic efficiency[1], thereby profoundly restricting plant growth, development, and function Because of their sessile nature, plants cannot actively escape from stress and must rely on physiological and biochemical mechanisms to survive external stresses[2]. HSFs, a class of transcription factors widely found in eukaryotes, have important roles in the receipt and transmission of signals, the recognition of heat shock elements (HSEs) and regulation of downstream genes, the stimulation of plant stress responses, and the promotion of heat tolerance[7]. Domain ( known as the HSF domain) consists of three α-helix bundles and four strands of reverse-parallel β-folded layers that form a tight sphere This structure ensures the specific binding of HSFs to HSEs in target gene promoters, thereby regulating the transcription and expression of heat shock g enes[9]. Plants that overexpressed HsfA1b had enhanced resistance to pathogenic bacteria, indicating that this gene is involved in the regulation of both abiotic and biotic stress resistance[26]
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