Identification of ARF family in blueberry and its potential involvement of fruit development and pH stress response

Abstract

Background Auxin responsive factor (ARF) family is one of core components in auxin signalling pathway, which governs diverse developmental processes and stress responses. Blueberry is an economically important berry-bearing crop and prefers to acidic soil. However, the understandings of ARF family has not yet been reported in blueberry. Results In the present study, 60 ARF genes (VcARF) were identified in blueberry, and they showed diverse gene structures and motif compositions among the groups and similar within each group in the phylogenetic tree. Noticeably, 9 digenic, 5 trigenic and 6 tetragenic VcARF pairs exhibited more than 95% identity to each other. Computational analysis indicated that 23 VcARFs harbored the miRNA responsive element (MRE) of miR160 or miR167 like other plant ARF genes. Interestingly, the MRE of miR156d/h-3p was observed in the 5’UTR of 3 VcARFs, suggesting a potentially novel post-transcriptional control. Furthermore, the transcript accumulations of VcARFs were investigated during fruit development, and three categories of transcript profiles were observed, implying different functional roles. Meanwhile, the expressions of VcARFs to different pH conditions (pH4.5 and pH6.5) were surveyed in pH-sensitive and tolerant blueberry species, and a number of VcARFs showed different transcript accumulations. More importantly, distinct transcriptional response to pH stress (pH6.5) were observed for several VcARFs (such as VcARF6s and VcARF19-3/19–4) between pH-sensitive and tolerant species, suggesting their potential roles in adaption to pH stress. Conclusions Sixty VcARF genes were identified and characterized, and their transcript profiles were surveyed during fruit development and in response to pH stress. These findings will contribute to future research for eliciting the functional roles of VcARFs and regulatory mechanisms, especially fruit development and adaption to pH stress.

Identification, Evolutionary Dynamics, and Gene Expression Patterns of the ACP Gene Family in Responding to Salt Stress in Brassica Genus

“…Based on our analysis of cis-acting elements, the ACP gene of Brassica plants plays a crucial role in light response, hormone regulation, stress resistance, and growth and development [48]. However, the number of cis-acting elements may vary among different species due to gene loss during differentiation and other factors [49]. These findings further support the positive role of the ACP gene in stress resistance.…”

A Comprehensive Analysis of Auxin Response Factor Gene Family in Melastoma dodecandrum Genome

“…However, these flowers encounter impediments in the subsequent formation of capsules [48]. This observation suggests that these MedARFs may have significant involvement in the regulation of fruit development [49].…”

Identification and Evolutionary Analysis of the Auxin Response Factor (ARF) Family Based on Transcriptome Data from Caucasian Clover and Analysis of Expression Responses to Hormones

“…Auxins play a very important role in the regulation of plant growth and development [48]. The signal transduction of auxins controls the responses of organs and tissues to auxins and plays an important role in the regulation of plant growth by auxins [18,[49][50][51][52]. As transcription factors, ARFs participate in the signaling pathways related to the auxin response and regulate the growth and development of plants [53].…”