Genome-Wide Identification and Functional Characterization of TIFY Gene Family in Verbena bonariensis with Insights into VbTIFY16’s Role in Petal
Yuan Chen#, Sumeera Asghar#, Hanfei Li, Ju Cai, Yin You, Yan Li*
The Key Laboratory of Plant Resources Conservation and Germplasm Innovation in Mountainous Region (Ministry of Education), Institute of Agro-Bioengineering and College of Life Sciences, Guizhou University, Guiyang, China
* Corresponding Author: Yan Li. Email: 
# These authors contributed equally to this work
(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Ornamental Plants: Traits, Flowering, Aroma, Molecular Mechanisms, Postharvest Handling, and Application)
Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2026.080045
Received 02 February 2026; Accepted 06 May 2026; Published online 20 May 2026
Abstract
The TIFY transcription factor family plays a major role in plant growth and development. Petal size is a very important agronomic characteristic in the ornamental species of
Verbena bonariensis. This study identifies 16
TIFY genes (
VbTIFYs) in the
V. bonariensis genome. Phylogenetic reconstruction divided these genes into six distinct subclades, indicating a high degree of homology between Verbena bonariensis and Arabidopsis thaliana. Promoter sequence analysis illustrated that the promoters of TIFY genes harbor not only cis-acting elements related to hormone regulation, but also functional motifs involved in light responses and low-temperature adaptation. Chromosomal localization results shows that
VbTIFY genes are distributed across six chromosomes of
V. bonariensis. Synteny analysis revealed four significant pairs of homologous genes within the
VbTIFY gene family. Tissue expression profiling based on RNA-seq data showed that all 16
VbTIFY genes exhibited tissue-specific expression patterns across different developmental stages. Subsequently, six highly expressed genes were selected for qRT-PCR validation. The results indicated that both
VbTIFY12 and
VbTIFY16 were highly expressed in flowers, with the expression level of
VbTIFY16 being 12.7-fold higher than that of
VbTIFY12. Subsequently, we focused subcellular localization assay confirmed that VbTIFY16 protein was localized in the nucleus. Overexpression of
VbTIFY16 in transgenic tobacco significantly reduced petal size, and further cytological analysis revealed that this phenotypic change was caused by the inhibition of cell expansion. Collectively, this study provides a comprehensive transcriptional framework of the
TIFY gene family in
V. bonariensis, lays a theoretical foundation for elucidating the molecular mechanism of petal size regulation, and offers valuable candidate genes for molecular breeding of ornamental traits in
V. bonariensis.
Keywords
TIFY gene family;
Verbena bonariensis; flower; growth and development
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