@Article{phyton.2024.052190,
AUTHOR = {Dandan Yuan, Ju Cai, Tao Zhang, Sisi Wang, Xiuliu Yang, Yan Li},
TITLE = {Identification and Analysis of the <i>WRKY</i> Transcription Factor Gene Family in <i>Verbena bonariensis</i>},
JOURNAL = {Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany},
VOLUME = {93},
YEAR = {2024},
NUMBER = {8},
PAGES = {1875--1896},
URL = {http://www.techscience.com/phyton/v93n8/57764},
ISSN = {1851-5657},
ABSTRACT = {The <i>WRKY</i> transcription factor gene family is one of the unique gene families in plants. It plays an important role in response to abiotic stresses such as cold and drought, hormone signal transduction, regulation of biosynthesis, leaf senescence seed germination, etc. However, little information is available about <i>WRKY</i> transcription factors in <i>Verbena bonariensis</i>. In this study, 70 <i>VbWRKY</i> genes were identified from the whole genome. The phylogenetic analysis of the <i>WRKY</i> gene family in <i>V. bonariensis</i> and <i>Arabidopsis</i> shows that the <i>WRKY</i> genes in <i>V. bonariensis</i> can be divided into three groups: I, II, and III, which contain 13, 47, and 10 members, respectively. Group II can be further divided into five subclasses: IIa (5), IIb (10), IIc (18), IId (6), and IIe (8). Conservative motif analysis showed that 64 proteins encoded by the <i>VbWRKY</i> gene had conserved motifs 1, 2 and 3, and the same subclass motif elements were approximately the same. The collinearity analysis showed that there were 44 homologous gene pairs among the <i>VbWRKYs</i>, and these homologous gene pairs may have the same function. Promoter sequence analysis showed that the <i>VbWRKY</i> gene has multiple <i>cis-</i>acting elements, including not only <i>cis</i>-acting elements related to low-temperature and light responses, but also <i>cis</i>-acting elements related to hormone regulation, Among them, most <i>VbWRKY</i> genes contain response elements about low-temperature, and 30 <i>VbWRKY</i> genes contain low-temperature response elements (LTR), and 61 <i>VbWRKY</i> genes contain abscisic acid response elements (ABRE), indicating that <i>VbWRKY</i> plays a crucial role in plant growth and abiotic stress. According to the expression of <i>VbWRKY</i> in the cold stress and different tissues transcriptome, 70 <i>VbWRKY</i> genes played their respective roles in various tissues and stages to regulate plant growth, Also, some of them participated in the process of cold stress tolerance, 52 <i>VbWRKYs</i> showed significant differences in expression under cold stress, and <i>37 VbWRKY</i> genes were up-regulated under cold stress. 9 <i>VbWRKY</i> genes were selected for quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis under low-temperature stress, and the results showed that all 9 genes were upregulated under low-temperature stress. Ultimately, the present study provides a comprehensive analysis of the predicted <i>V. bonariensis</i> WRKY genes family, which provided a theoretical basis for the study of low-temperature resistance and growth and development of <i>V. bonariensis</i>.},
DOI = {10.32604/phyton.2024.052190}
}