Osmanthus fragrans has important ornamental and economic value. As the callus re-differentiation process is difficult, a genetic transformation system has not been successfully established in O. fragrans. The basic leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factors play an important role in plant growth and development. A total of 116 OfbZIP genes were identified in O. fragrans using bioinformatics methods. According to the evolutionary relationships, these genes were divided into 12 subfamilies and were found to be unevenly distributed on 23 chromosomes of O. fragrans. The quantitative real-time PCR results showed that the expression trend of OfbZIP98 was consistent with the proliferation of O. fragrans callus. The subcellular localization and yeast self-activation results showed that OfbZIP98 was localized in the nucleus and had self-activation activity. Further, phenotypic observation of over-expressed tobacco showed that compared with the wild type (WT), the transgenic strain formed callus 4 d earlier, and callus re-differentiation began on day 15. Analysis of the callus differentiation rate showed that after 20 d of culture, the differentiation rate of the leaf callus of the transgenic strain was about twice that of the WT plants. In addition, measurements of corolla diameter, corolla circumference, corolla area, and corolla tube diameter indicated that the petals of the transgenic strain were significantly larger than the WT plants. Our results showed that OfbZIP98 has the important function of promoting callus growth, re-differentiation, and flower organ enlargement. These findings provide new insights into the potential role of OfbZIP98 in the growth and development of O. fragrans.
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