Abstract
Woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca) is a diploid strawberry that is widely used as a model of cultivated octoploid strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa). It has also been used as a model for Rosaceae fruits, non-climacteric fruits, and stolons. The MYB superfamily is the largest transcription factor family in plants, and its members play important roles in plant growth and development. However, the complete MYB superfamily in woodland strawberry has not been studied. In this study, a total of 217 MYB genes were identified in woodland strawberry and classified into four groups: one 4R-MYB protein, five 3R-MYB proteins, 113 2R-MYB proteins, and 98 1R-MYB proteins. The phylogenetic relationship of each MYB subgroup was consistent in terms of intron/exon structure and conserved motif composition. The MYB genes in woodland strawberry underwent loss and expansion events during evolution. The transcriptome data revealed that most FveMYB genes are expressed in several organs, whereas 15 FveMYB genes exhibit organ-specific expression, including five genes (FveMYB101, -112, -44, and -8; FveMYB1R81) in roots, two genes (FveMYB62 and -77) in stolon tips, three genes (FveMYB99 and -35; FveMYB1R96) in open flowers, and five genes (FveMYB76 and -100; FveMYB1R4, -5, and -86) in immature fruits. During fruit ripening of woodland strawberry, the expression levels of 84 FveMYB genes were decreased, of which five genes (FveMYB4, -22, -50, and -66; FveMYB1R57) decreased more than 10-fold, whereas those 18 FveMYB genes were increased, especially FveMYB10 and FveMYB74 increased more than 30-fold. In addition, the expression levels of 36, 68, 52, and 62 FveMYB genes were altered by gibberellic acid, abscisic acid, cold, and heat treatments, respectively, and among them, several genes exhibited similar expression patterns for multiple treatments, suggesting possible roles in the crosstalk of multiple signaling pathways. This study provides candidate genes for the study of stolon formation, fruit development and ripening, and abiotic stress responses.
Highlights
This study provides basic information on the woodland strawberry MYB superfamily as well as important clues for studying the functions of possible MYB genes involved in stolon formation, fruit development and ripening, and responses to abiotic stresses in woodland strawberry
The Myb_DNA-binding (PF00249) hidden Markov model profile was used as a query to search for potential MYB proteins in the woodland strawberry protein database
According to the number of Myb_DNA-binding repeats, we categorized these proteins into four groups: one 4R-MYB, five 3R-MYBs, 113 2R-MYBs, and 98 1R-MYBs
Summary
Higher plants have evolved complex regulatory mechanisms to adapt to a constantly changing environment. Transcription factors are important components of these regulatory mechanisms due to their ability to regulate cell development, differentiation, and growth by binding to specific DNA sites to regulate gene expression. According to the type of DNA binding domain, transcription factors can be classified into different gene families, and among them, the MYB transcription factors comprise an important family containing numerous members [1,2,3]. MYB transcription factors are characterized by one to four conserved MYB domains (Myb_DNA-binding domains). Each domain contains approximately 52 amino acids and Horticulturae 2021, 7, 97.
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