Abstract
Cucumber is vulnerable to many foliage diseases. Recent studies reported cloning of candidate genes for several diseases in cucumber; however, the exact defence mechanisms remain unclear. Dof genes have been shown to play significant roles in plant growth, development, and responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. Dof genes coding for plant-specific transcription factors can promote large-scale expression of defence-related genes at whole genome level. The genes in the family have been identified and characterized in several plant species, but not in cucumber. In the present study, we identified 36 CsDof members from the cucumber draft genomes which could be classified into eight groups. The proportions of the CsDof family genes, duplication events, chromosomal locations, cis-elements and miRNA target sites were comprehensively investigated. Consequently, we analysed the expression patterns of CsDof genes in specific tissues and their response to two biotic stresses (watermelon mosaic virus and downy mildew). These results indicated that CsDof may be involved in resistance to biotic stresses in cucumber.
Highlights
The Dof TFs have been shown to play important roles in many biological processes, such as synthesis of seed storage protein, seed development and germination, photosynthetic processes and flowering[17]
We performed SMART search to confirm the presence of the conserved Dof domain which confirmed the existence of 36 putative CsDof genes in the cucumber genome
The function and evolution of Dof genes have been thoroughly studied in Arabidopsis (36 AtDof genes), rice (30 OsDof genes)[30], soybean[29] (78 GmDof genes), Chinese cabbage[15] (76 BraDof genes), potato[17] (35 StDof genes), pigeonpea[31] (38 CcDof genes), and tomato[18] (34 SlDof genes)
Summary
The Dof TFs have been shown to play important roles in many biological processes, such as synthesis of seed storage protein, seed development and germination, photosynthetic processes and flowering[17]. Dof transcription factors have been functionally characterised in Arabidopsis[22,23] and a number of crops such as tomato[18], rice[27] and soybean[29]. No such information is available in cucumber. Our study provided novel insights into the stress responses of CsDof genes to these two important cucumber pathogens and deepens our understanding of the structure and function of CsDof genes in the cucumber genome
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