Characterization of Brassinazole resistant (BZR) gene family and stress induced expression in Eucalyptus grandis

Abstract

Brassinosteroids (BRs) are a group of plant hormones which play a pivotal role in modulating cell elongation, stress responses, vascular differentiation and senescence. In response to BRs, BRASSINAZOLE-RESISTANT (BZR) transcription factors (TFs) accumulate in the nucleus, where they modulate thousands of target genes and coordinate many biological processes, especially in regulating defense against biotic and abiotic stresses. In this study, 6 BZR TFs of () from a genome-wide survey were characterized by sequence analysis and expression profiling against several abiotic stresses. The results showed that BZR gene family in was slightly smaller compared to and , but all phylogenetic groups were represented. Various systematic in silico analysis of these TFs validated the basic properties of BZRs, whereas comparative studies showed a high degree of similarity with recognized BZRs of other plant species. In the organ-specific expression analyses, 4 were expressed in vascular tissue indicating their possible functions in wood formation. Meanwhile, almost all genes showed differential transcript abundance levels in response to exogenously applied BR, MeJA, and SA, and salt and cold stresses. Besides, protein interaction analysis showed that all genes were associated with BR signaling directly or indirectly. These TFs were proposed as transcriptional activators or repressors of abiotic stress response and growth and development pathways of by participating in BR signaling processes. These findings would be helpful in resolving the regulatory mechanism of in stress resistance conditions but require further functional study of these potential TFs in .

A Chinese White Pear (Pyrus bretschneideri) BZR Gene PbBZR1 Act as a Transcriptional Repressor of Lignin Biosynthetic Genes in Fruits

“…In our study, six, eight, eight, twelve and thirteen BZR-coding protein sequences were identified in F.vesca , P. mume , P. persica , P. communis and P. bretschneideri , respectively ( Table S1 ). Compared with other gene families in the studied species, the BZR gene family is of relatively small size, which is consistent with the previous studies such as six, six, eleven and fifteen BZR genes in A. thaliana , E. grandis , Z. mays and B. rapa , respectively ( Saha et al, 2015 ; Fan et al, 2018 ; Manoli et al, 2018 ; Yu et al, 2018 ). Interestingly, the numbers of BZR genes have a certain degree of expansion in both P. communis and P. bretschneideri , when compared with those in F. vesca , P. mume and P. persica .…”

“…As previously reported, the members of the BZR gene family were found to be involved in the regulation of various processes in plants, and the positive roles of the BZR genes in BR signal transduction have been well studied in plants, such as A. thaliana , Brassica rapa , Eucalyptus grandis and Zea mays ( Clouse et al, 1996 ; Li and Chory, 1997 ; Ye et al, 2010 ; Clouse, 2011 ; Saha et al, 2015 ; Fan et al, 2018 ; Manoli et al, 2018 ; Yu et al, 2018 ). However, no systematic, in-depth study of the BZR gene family has been reported in five Rosaceae species, including F. vesca , P. mume , P. persica , P. communis , and P. bretschneideri .…”

“…The expression patterns of BZR genes in plant organ growth and development have been studied in several species, including Z. mays , E.grandis , B.rapa , and legume ( Saha et al, 2015 ; Fan et al, 2018 ; Manoli et al, 2018 ; Yu et al, 2018 ). To further understand the putative function of all PbBZR genes, we examined their expression patterns in four tested tissues, including roots, stems, leaves and fruits in P. bretschneideri .…”

Comprehensive Analysis of SnRK Gene Family and their Responses to Salt Stress in Eucalyptus grandis

“…Specific primers of the EgrSnRK genes were designed by Primer Premier 5.0 and then detected by NCBI (). In addition, the EgrEF1α was used as a house-keeping control gene [63]. Sequence information of all primers is shown in the attached Supplementary Table S6.…”

Maize ZmBES1/BZR1-5 Decreases ABA Sensitivity and Confers Tolerance to Osmotic Stress in Transgenic Arabidopsis

“…The BES1/BZR1s are a large family of plant-specific transcription factors that are involved in plant growth and developmental processes, autophagy as well as response to nitrogen starvation [18,19,38]. Some prior studies have shown that the BES1/BZR1 genes are regulated by drought, salt, cold and heat stress in Brassica rapa, Eucalyptus grandis, Brassica napus and Arabidopsis [44][45][46], and accelerate drought, heat and freezing tolerance in tomato or Arabidopsis [32][33][34][35], implying that BES1/BZR1 genes participate in the osmotic stress response. In our study, the ZmBES1/BZR1-5 gene also responds to salt and drought stress in maize (Figure 1), which may be related to the cis-acting elements of its promoter [23].…”