Identification and characterization of NF-Y transcription factor families in Canola (Brassica napus L.)

Abstract

NF-Y (NUCLEAR FACTOR-Y), a heterotrimeric transcription factor, is composed of NF-YA, NF-YB, and NF-YC proteins in yeast, animal, and plant systems. In plants, each of the NF-YA/B/C subunit forms a multi-member family. NF-Ys are key regulators with important roles in many physiological processes, such as drought tolerance, flowering time, and seed development. In this study, we identified, annotated, and further characterized 14 NF-YA, 14 NF-YB, and 5 NF-YC proteins in Brassica napus (canola). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the NF-YA/B/C subunits were more closely clustered with the Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) homologs than with rice OsHAP2/3/5 subunits. Analyses of the conserved domain indicated that the BnNF-YA/B/C subfamilies, respectively, shared the same conserved domains with those in other organisms, including Homo sapiens, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Arabidopsis, and Oryza sativa (rice). An examination of exon/intron structures revealed that most gene structures of BnNF-Y were similar to their homologs in Arabidopsis, a model dicot plant, but different from those in the model monocot plant rice, suggesting that plant NF-Ys diverged before monocot and dicot plants differentiated. Spatial-tempo expression patterns, as determined by qRT-PCR, showed that most BnNF-Ys were widely expressed in different tissues throughout the canola life cycle and that several closely related BnNF-Y subunits had similar expression profiles. Based on these findings, we predict that BnNF-Y proteins have functions that are conserved in the homologous proteins in other plants. This study provides the first extensive evaluation of the BnNF-Y family, and provides a useful foundation for dissecting the functions of BnNF-Y.

CONSTANS Imparts DNA Sequence Specificity to the Histone Fold NF-YB/NF-YC Dimer

“…In mammals, invertebrates, and fungi, there are one or two genes coding for each subunit. Instead, plants have dramatically expanded the number of NF-Y genes: Typically, there are 8 to 14 gene family members for each subunit, conferring an enormous combinatorial capacity on the trimer; some are expressed in a tissue-restricted manner, and many are relatively ubiquitous (Gusmaroli et al, 2001(Gusmaroli et al, , 2002Stephenson et al, 2007;Siefers et al, 2009;Cao et al, 2011b;Hilioti et al, 2014;Liang et al, 2012Liang et al, , 2014Quach et al, 2015;Rípodas et al, 2015;Zhang et al, 2015;Qu et al, 2015;Feng et al, 2015;Ren et al, 2016;Malviya et al, 2016;Li et al, 2016;Yang et al, 2016;Zhang et al, 2016). Typical features of other plant TFs, such as the presence of duplicate members with similar functions and neofunctionalization of specific genes, were determined by genetic experiments, mostly performed in Arabidopsis thaliana (reviewed in Laloum et al, 2013;Petroni et al, 2012).…”

Identification and characterization of NF-YB family genes in tung tree

“…VfNF-YB5 grouped with AtNF-YB8/10. A previous study reported that AtNF-YB1/8/10 shares high similarities with OsHAP3A/ B/C (Liang et al 2014). Silencing of OsHAP3A by an antisense construct led to chloroplast-related abnormalities (Miyoshi et al 2003).…”

“…For example, there are at least 10 NF-YB genes in Arabidopsis, (Edwards et al 1998;Gusmaroli et al 2001Gusmaroli et al , 2002, 11 NF-YB genes in wheat (Triticum aestivum) and rice (Stephenson et al 2007;Thirumurugan et al 2008), and 17 NF-YB genes in Brachypodium (Cao et al 2011). Recently, 14 NF-YB genes have been identified and characterized in canola (Liang et al 2014) and 32 NF-YB genes in soybean (Quach et al 2014). The occurrence of multi-member gene families in plants suggests that there is genetic redundancy or functional divergence.…”

Genome-wide analysis of poplar NF-YB gene family and identified PtNF-YB1 important in regulate flowering timing in transgenic plants

“…Simultaneously, the NF-Y subunit also plays an important role in response to stress, such as drought stress [20][21][22][23][24][25]. It is worth noting that more and more studies have found that the NF-Y subunit participates in the photoperiodic regulation of flowering induction pathways, and that different subunits function differently [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34]. For example, Cai et al found that the AtNF-YB2 promotes the flowering process by increasing expression of the flowering key genes FLOWER-ING LOCUS T (FT) and SUPPRESSOR OF OVER EXPRESSION OF CONSTANS1 (SOC1) [27].…”