Open Access

ARTICLE

Comprehensive Genome Identification Analysis of EXO70 Gene Family in Panax ginseng and PgEXO70 Gene Expression under Methyl Jasmonate Regulation

Chunmei Pang^1,2, Bo Sui^2,3, Kangyu Wang^2,*

1 School of Chemical Engineering, Yinchuan College of Energy, Yinchuan, China
2 College of Life Science, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, China
3 Jilin Likang Cell Regeneration Medicine Co., Ltd., Changchun, China

* Corresponding Author: Kangyu Wang. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Abiotic and Biotic Stress Tolerance in Crop)

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2026, 95(8), 19 https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2026.085307

Received 08 May 2026; Accepted 29 June 2026; Issue published 28 August 2026

Abstract

As an important medicinal plant in China, Panax ginseng is rich in secondary metabolites and is widely used in immune regulation, antitumor, anti-aging applications. The exocyst complex is a crucial protein complex that regulates vesicle trafficking in plants and plays key roles in cellular secretion, polar growth, and stress responses. Methyl jasmonate (MeJA) is a widely occurring derivative of jasmonic acid (JA) in plants and belongs to the category of endogenous signaling molecules in plants, which significantly regulates plant defense and secondary metabolism. MeJA is a key signaling molecule that significantly regulates plant defense and secondary metabolic pathways and has been shown to induce ginsenoside synthesis in P. ginseng. Despite the absence of reports on the effects of the EXO70 gene family in ginseng under MeJA treatment, this study comprehensively screened, identified, and systematically analyzed the EXO70 gene family in ginseng. Additionally, PgEXO70 candidate genes that exhibited significant responses to MeJA were identified, and an extensive investigation of PgEXO70 gene expression patterns was conducted. Utilizing ginseng genome and transcriptome data, we identified 58 members of the EXO70 gene family in ginseng. We conducted the analysis of their phylogenetic relationships, gene structures, chromosomal distributions, cis-regulatory elements, co-expression network, and gene expression patterns. In addition, we treated ginseng adventitious roots with MeJA and investigated the expression trends of the four PgEXO70 genes containing the highest number of MeJA elements. All four genes responded to MeJA treatment, but the expression of PgEXO70-18 was significantly elevated at all treatment times. These results provide the genetic resource support for further exploration of the functions of EXO70 genes in P. ginseng and their roles in plant hormone regulation and secondary metabolism.

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Keywords

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Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material File

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