TY  - EJOU
AU  - Chen, Yuan 
AU  - Asghar, Sumeera 
AU  - Li, Hanfei 
AU  - Cai, Ju 
AU  - You, Yin 
AU  - Li, Yan 

TI  - Genome-Wide Identification and Functional Characterization of <i>TIFY</i> Gene Family in <i>Verbena bonariensis</i> with Insights into <i>VbTIFY16</i>’s Role in Petal
T2  - Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany

PY  - 
VL  - 
IS  - 
SN  - 1851-5657

AB  - 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 <i>Verbena bonariensis</i>. This study identifies 16 <i>TIFY</i> genes (<i>VbTIFYs</i>) in the <i>V. bonariensis</i> 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 <i>VbTIFY</i> genes are distributed across six chromosomes of <i>V. bonariensis</i>. Synteny analysis revealed four significant pairs of homologous genes within the <i>VbTIFY</i> gene family. Tissue expression profiling based on RNA-seq data showed that all 16 <i>VbTIFY</i> 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 <i>VbTIFY12</i> and <i>VbTIFY16</i> were highly expressed in flowers, with the expression level of <i>VbTIFY16</i> being 12.7-fold higher than that of <i>VbTIFY12</i>. Subsequently, we focused subcellular localization assay confirmed that VbTIFY16 protein was localized in the nucleus. Overexpression of <i>VbTIFY16</i> 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 <i>TIFY</i> gene family in <i>V. bonariensis</i>, 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 <i>V. bonariensis</i>.
KW  - <i>TIFY</i> gene family; <i>Verbena bonariensis</i>; flower; growth and development

DO  - 10.32604/phyton.2026.080045