Identification and Analysis of Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase (MAPK) Cascades in Fragaria vesca

Abstract

Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades are highly conserved signaling modules in eukaryotes, including yeasts, plants and animals. MAPK cascades are responsible for protein phosphorylation during signal transduction events, and typically consist of three protein kinases: MAPK, MAPK kinase, and MAPK kinase kinase. In this current study, we identified a total of 12 FvMAPK, 7 FvMAPKK, 73 FvMAPKKK, and one FvMAPKKKK genes in the recently published Fragaria vesca genome sequence. This work reported the classification, annotation and phylogenetic evaluation of these genes and an assessment of conserved motifs and the expression profiling of members of the gene family were also analyzed here. The expression profiles of the MAPK and MAPKK genes in different organs and fruit developmental stages were further investigated using quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR). Finally, the MAPK and MAPKK expression patterns in response to hormone and abiotic stresses (salt, drought, and high and low temperature) were investigated in fruit and leaves of F. vesca. The results provide a platform for further characterization of the physiological and biochemical functions of MAPK cascades in strawberry.

Genome-Wide Bioinformatics Analysis of MAPK Gene Family in Kiwifruit (Actinidia Chinensis)

“…The model plants that have been most studied are Arabidopsis thaliana and rice; there are 20 MAPKs in the A. thaliana genome [ 3 ], whereas the rice genome contains 17 MAPKs [ 14 ]. Recent research has reported that a total of 16, 19, 16, 14, 12, 17, 10, and 15 homologs in MAPK family genes have been identified from tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum ) [ 15 ], maize ( Zea mays ) [ 16 ], purple false brome ( Brachypodium distachyon ) [ 17 ], grapevine [ 13 , 18 ] and strawberry ( Fragaria vesca ) [ 19 ], tobacco ( Nicotiana tabacum ) [ 20 ], mulberry ( Moraceae morus ) [ 21 ], wheat ( Triticum aestivum ) [ 22 ] genomes, and as many as 21, 26, and 25 putative MAPK genes were identified in poplar ( Populus trichocarpa ) [ 23 ], apple ( Malus domestica ) [ 24 ], and banana ( Musa acuminata ), respectively.…”

The Function of MAPK Cascades in Response to Various Stresses in Horticultural Plants

“…In cucumber, all examined CsMAPKs were initially downregulated for the first 2 days before they were significantly upregulated after drought treatment ( Wang et al., 2015 ). In strawberry, FvMAPK5 and FvMAPK8 belong to group B, which contains well-characterized MAPK genes, including AtMAPK3 and AtMAPK6 ( Zhou et al., 2017 ). Research has indicated that FvMAPK5 and FvMAPK8 are important for abiotic stress responses, with functions similar to those of AtMAPK3 and AtMAPK6 due to transcriptional activation by drought ( Zhou et al., 2017 ).…”

“…In strawberry, FvMAPK5 and FvMAPK8 belong to group B, which contains well-characterized MAPK genes, including AtMAPK3 and AtMAPK6 ( Zhou et al., 2017 ). Research has indicated that FvMAPK5 and FvMAPK8 are important for abiotic stress responses, with functions similar to those of AtMAPK3 and AtMAPK6 due to transcriptional activation by drought ( Zhou et al., 2017 ). In trifoliate orange ( Poncirus trifoliata L. Raf), transcript levels of MAPKs were increased by dehydration ( Huang et al., 2011 ).…”

“…Most of the examined CsMAPKs (except for CsMPK3 and CsMPK7 ) were upregulated, and the transcripts of CsMKK4 exhibited a pronounced increase at 8 h after heat treatment ( Wang et al., 2015 ). In Fragaria vesca , the expression of 17 of the 19 MAPK genes ( FvMAPK1 - 12 ; FvMPKK1 - 7 ) increased significantly at 18 days after flowering during low-temperature treatment, while the transcript levels of FvMAPK3 , FvMPKK1 , FvMPKK3 , FvMPKK6 and FvMPKK7 were significantly upregulated by high-temperature treatment ( Zhou et al., 2017 ). Among these genes, FvMAPKK3 showed specific activation by cold and heat stresses ( Zhou et al., 2017 ).…”

Characterization of LiMAPK gene in response to salinity stress in Tiger lily (Lilium lancifolium Thunb.)

“…MAPK genes have been cloned from Arabidopsis thaliana [10], mulberry [11], rice [12], corn [13], wheat [14], Fragaria vesca [15] etc., with their functions subject to a preliminary analysis. It has been reported that the MAPK gene is closely related to saline tolerance in plants [16][17][18].…”