Genome-Wide Identification of the Q-type C2H2 Transcription Factor Family in Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) and Expression Analysis under Different Abiotic Stresses.

Jun Pu,Zhipeng Liu,Wenxian Liu,Pei Mao,Qiang Zhou,Mingyu Li

doi:10.3390/genes12121906

Abstract

Q-type C2H2 zinc-finger protein (C2H2-ZFP) transcription factors are associated with many plant growth development and environmental stress responses. To date, there have been few analyses of the Q-type C2H2-ZFP gene family in alfalfa (Medicago sativa subsp. sativa). In this study, we identified 58 Q-type C2H2-ZFPs across the entire alfalfa genome, and the gene structure, motif composition, chromosomal mapping, and cis-regulatory elements were explored, as well as the expression profiles of specific tissues and the response under different abiotic stresses. According to their phylogenetic features, these 58 MsZFPs were divided into 12 subgroups. Synteny analysis showed that duplication events play a vital role in the expansion of the MsZFP gene family. The collinearity results showed that a total of 26 and 42 of the 58 MsZFP genes were homologous with Arabidopsis and M. truncatula, respectively. The expression profiles showed that C2H2-ZFP genes played various roles in different tissues and abiotic stresses. The results of subsequent quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) showed that the nine selected MsZFP genes were rapidly induced under different abiotic stresses, indicating that C2H2-ZFP genes are closely related to abiotic stress. This study provides results on MsZFP genes, their response to various abiotic stresses, and new information on the C2H2 family in alfalfa.

Highlights

Zinc finger proteins (ZFPs) are one of the largest families of transcription regulators, with a highly conserved domain; they play crucial roles in plant development and abiotic stress responses in natural plants [1]
A total of 58 MsZFP genes were obtained from the alfalfa genome after screening domains and removing redundant genes, and MsZFP01 was rewritten to MsZFP58 based on the order of occurrence of the genome data (Table S2)
According to the downloaded alfalfa B47 genotype expression database, we evaluated the transcript abundance pattern of the MsZFP-encoding genes in a total of six different tissues: leaf, flower, pre-elongated stem, elongated stem, root, and nodule; 42 MsZFP genes were detected in the database

Summary

Introduction

Zinc finger proteins (ZFPs) are one of the largest families of transcription regulators, with a highly conserved domain; they play crucial roles in plant development and abiotic stress responses in natural plants [1]. According to their different residues, zinc finger proteins are divided into several types, including C2H2, C2HC, C2HC5, and other [2]. Among these types, C2H2 ZFPs are the most numerous in eukaryotes [3]; they contain two cysteine (Cys2) and two histidine (His2) residues.

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