Identification and Characterization of MIKCc-Type MADS-Box Genes in the Flower Organs of Adonis amurensis.

Lulu Ren,Shufang Gong,Hongwei Sun,Kun Qiao,Shuang Feng,Shengyue Dai,Jingang Wang,Aimin Zhou

doi:10.3390/ijms22179362

Abstract

Adonis amurensis is a perennial herbaceous flower that blooms in early spring in northeast China, where the night temperature can drop to −15 °C. To understand flowering time regulation and floral organogenesis of A. amurensis, the MIKCc-type MADS (Mcm1/Agamous/ Deficiens/Srf)-box genes were identified and characterized from the transcriptomes of the flower organs. In this study, 43 non-redundant MADS-box genes (38 MIKCc, 3 MIKC*, and 2 Mα) were identified. Phylogenetic and conserved motif analysis divided the 38 MIKCc-type genes into three major classes: ABCDE model (including AP1/FUL, AP3/PI, AG, STK, and SEPs/AGL6), suppressor of overexpression of constans1 (SOC1), and short vegetative phase (SVP). qPCR analysis showed that the ABCDE model genes were highly expressed mainly in flowers and differentially expressed in the different tissues of flower organs, suggesting that they may be involved in the flower organ identity of A. amurensis. Subcellular localization revealed that 17 full-length MADSs were mainly localized in the nucleus: in Arabidopsis, the heterologous expression of three full-length SOC1-type genes caused early flowering and altered the expression of endogenous flowering time genes. Our analyses provide an overall insight into MIKCc genes in A. amurensis and their potential roles in floral organogenesis and flowering time regulation.

Highlights

The 43 AaMADS putative proteins were named and classified according to the phylogenetic relationship between AaMADS and Arabidopsis MADS proteins. They were subdivided into 3 major classes, Mα, MIKC*, and MIKCc, of which MIKCc was divided into 7 subclasses, including short vegetative phase (SVP), A-class (AP1 and FUL, eight members), B-class
E-class in amurensis showed similarities showed similarities and differences found in Arabidopsis and other species. These results and differences found in Arabidopsis and other species. These results suggest that the suggest that the ABCDE model genes may be involved in the flower organ identity of A
All assembled unigenes were annotated by comparing the data available at the following public databases: National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) non-redundant protein sequence (Nr), NCBI nucleotide sequence (Nt), Swiss-Prot protein, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), euKaryotic

Summary

Introduction

The MADS (Mcm1/Agamous/Deficiens/Srf)-box transcription factor gene family plays an important role in the regulation of plant growth and development [1]. This large gene family is divided into two types, types I and II, based on phylogenetic relationships of the conserved MADS-box domain [2]. The type-I genes are further divided into Mα, Mβ, and Mγ subfamilies, and the type-II genes into the MIKCc -type and MIKC*type [3,4]. The term MIKC originated from the four major domains, including MADS (M), intervening (I), keratin-like (K), and C-terminal (C) [5]

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Discussion

Conclusion