Comprehensive identification of the VQ family genes in cucumber and their roles in response to abiotic and biotic stresses

Comprehensive Identification and Expression Profiling of the VQ Motif-Containing Gene Family in Brassica juncea

“…In this study, 87.5% of BjuVQ genes were found to be intronless and usually encoded relatively small proteins with less than 300 amino acid residues, which is consistent with the feature of most reported VQ genes in plants, such as A. thaliana (88.2%), rice (92.5%), maize (88.5%), moso bamboo (86.2%), tobacco (83.1%), cucumber (81.25%), and wheat (91.15%) [ 9 , 19 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 33 , 35 ]. This intronless feature of genes might have resulted from the evolutionary pressure on VQ genes to shorten their post-transcriptional processing for a rapid response to abiotic stress [ 35 , 36 ].…”

“…Based on residue differences, this study identified four types of VQ conserved motifs in the 120 BjuVQ proteins, including FxxxVQxLTG (91/120), FxxxVQxFTG (17/120), FxxxVQxVTG (6/120), and FxxxVQxYTG (4/120). Previous studies have shown that there are six types of VQ motifs in A. thaliana (LTG, FTG, VTG, YTG, LTS, and LTD) [ 33 ], six types in Chinese cabbage (LTG, YTG, VTG, FTG, LTV, and LTS) [ 25 ], six types in tobacco (LTG, FTG, VTG, YTG, LTA, and LTV) [ 21 ], five types in wheat (LTG, FTG, ITG, VTG, and VAM) [ 23 ], five types in maize (LTG, VTG, ATG, ITG, and FTG) [ 22 ], four types in rice (ITG, LTG, VTG, and FTG) [ 9 ], four types in cucumber (LTG, FTG LTA, and VTG) [ 19 ], and three types in grapevine (LTG, FTG, and VTG) [ 34 ]. Additionally, the change of core amino acids from VQ to VH is generally regarded to be specific for monocotyledonous plants, such as rice, maize, and wheat [ 9 , 22 , 23 ].…”

“…Previous reports have shown that the expression of VQ genes is regulated by various abiotic stresses including low temperature [ 3 , 19 , 21 , 23 , 24 , 25 ]. We then investigated the possible role of BjuVQ genes in a cold stress response based on the transcriptome data and qRT-PCR analysis.…”

“…thaliana VQ20, VQ20M could no longer interact with WRKY2 and WRKY34 in yeast and failed to rescue the phenotype in the complemented lines [ 16 ]. At the genome-wide level, the conserved domain has been used to classify the multigene family of VQ proteins, and the VQ gene family members have been widely identified in various plant species, such as 20 members in sunflower ( Helianthus annuus ) [ 17 ], 26 in tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum ) [ 18 ], 32 in cucumber ( Cucumis sativus ) [ 19 ], 34 in A. thaliana [ 20 ], 39 in rice ( Oryza sativa ) [ 9 ], 59 in tobacco ( Nicotiana tabacum ) [ 21 ], 61 in maize ( Zea mays ) [ 22 ], 74 in soybean ( Glycine max ) [ 10 ], 113 in wheat ( Triticum aestivum ) [ 23 ], and a total of 268 in Gossypium species [ 24 ].…”

Molecular Cloning, Characterization, and Expression Analysis of SIMILAR TO RCD-ONE (SRO) Family Genes Responding to Abiotic and Biotic Stress in Cucumber

“…Cucumber is an important vegetable crop with great economic value in the world, but it always encounters a variety of environmental stimulus (such as drought, salt, and pathogens) during its growth cycle [4,28]. In recent years, many stress-responsive TF gene families have been identified in cucumber, such as GARS [29,30], bHLH [31], WRKY [32], VQ [33], and TIFY [34], and some members of them were proven to function in stress responses [35,36]. However, no report has been carried out on the SRO family genes in cucumber until now.…”