Genome-Wide Identification, Phylogenetic and Expression Pattern Analysis of GATA Family Genes in Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.).

Congsheng Yan,Dekun Yang,Yuchao Hu,Kaijing Zhang,Martin Kagiki Njogu,Xiaomin Lu,Li Jia,Panqiao Wang

doi:10.3390/plants10081626

Abstract

GATA transcription factors are a class of transcriptional regulatory proteins that contain a characteristic type-IV zinc finger DNA-binding domain, which play important roles in plant growth and development. The GATA gene family has been characterized in various plant species. However, GATA family genes have not been identified in cucumber. In this study, 26 GATA family genes were identified in cucumber genome, whose physicochemical characteristics, chromosomal distributions, phylogenetic tree, gene structures conserved motifs, cis-regulatory elements in promoters, homologous gene pairs, downstream target genes were analyzed. Tissue expression profiles of cucumber GATA family genes exhibited that 17 GATA genes showed constitutive expression, and some GATA genes showed tissue-specific expression patterns. RNA-seq analysis of green and virescent leaves revealed that seven GATA genes might be involved in the chloroplast development and chlorophyll biosynthesis. Importantly, expression patterns analysis of GATA genes in response to abiotic and biotic stresses indicated that some GATA genes respond to either abiotic stress or biotic stress, some GATA genes such as Csa2G162660, Csa3G017200, Csa3G165640, Csa4G646060, Csa5G622830 and Csa6G312540 were simultaneously functional in resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses. Overall, this study will provide useful information for further analysis of the biological functions of GATA factors in cucumber.

Highlights

GATA transcription factors, a group of transcriptional regulatory proteins, are encoded by small multigene families
The other cucumber GATA genes were specially expressed in some tissues, such as Csa1G587970 and Csa4G646060 were highly expressed in leaf, Csa3G457670 and Csa3G843820 were highly expressed in tendril, Csa6G502700 was highly expressed in ovary, Csa6G504690 was highly expressed in leaf and ovary (Figure 7). These results revealed that the expression patterns of cucumber GATA genes were diverse in different tissues
An overview of the cucumber GATA factor gene family was revealed through the comprehensive investigation of their physicochemical characteristics, chromosomal location, phylogenetic tree, gene structure, conserved motif, cis-regulatory elements in the promoters, homologous gene pairs, synteny, and target genes

Summary

Introduction

GATA transcription factors, a group of transcriptional regulatory proteins, are encoded by small multigene families. GATA protein sequences contain either one or two highly conserved type-IV zinc-finger motifs (C-X2 -C-X17–20 -C-X2 -C) and a DNA-binding domain recognized as the DNA consensus sequence (A/T)GATA(A/G) [1]. The GATA family is widely distributed in eukaryotic organisms including animals, plants and fungi. GATA factors typically contain two conserved C-X2 -C-X17 -C-X2 -C zinc-finger domains, but only the C-terminal finger is involved in DNA binding, and they have been shown to play critical roles in the processes of development, differentiation and cell proliferation [2]. Plant GATA factors play important roles in plant growth and development, biotic and abiotic stresses, secondary metabolism and other biological processes [3].

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