Genome-wide characterization and analysis of WRKY transcription factors in Panax ginseng

作者：Peng Di, Ping Wang, Min Yan, Peng Han, Xinyi Huang, Le Yin, Yan Yan, Yonghua Xu, Yingping Wang · 发表于：BMC Genomics · 年份：2021 · DOI：10.1186/s12864-021-08145-5 · 被引用次数：68 · 研究领域：Plant Gene Expression Analysis、Polysaccharides and Plant Cell Walls、Plant biochemistry and biosynthesis

BACKGROUND: Panax ginseng is a well-known medicinal plant worldwide. As an herbal medicine, ginseng is also known for its long lifecycle, which can reach several decades. WRKY proteins play regulatory roles in many aspects of biological processes in plants, such as responses to biotic or abiotic stress, plant development, and adaptation to environmental challenges. Genome-wide analyses of WRKY genes in P. ginseng have not been reported. RESULTS: In this study, 137 PgWRKY genes were identified from the ginseng genome. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the PgWRKYs could be clustered into three primary groups and five subgroups. Most of the PgWRKY gene promoters contained several kinds of hormone- and stress-related cis-regulatory elements. The expression patterns of PgWRKY genes in 14 different tissues were analyzed based on the available public RNA-seq data. The responses of the PgWRKY genes to heat, cold, salt and drought treatment were also investigated. Most of the PgWRKY genes were expressed differently after heat treatment, and expression trends changed significantly under drought and cold treatment but only slightly under salt treatment. The coexpression analysis of PgWRKY genes with the ginsenoside biosynthesis pathway genes identified 11 PgWRKYs that may have a potential regulatory role in the biosynthesis process of ginsenoside. CONCLUSIONS: This work provides insights into the evolution, modulation and distribution of the WRKY gene family in ginseng and extends our k...