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Identification of the WRKY gene family in apricot and its response to drought stress

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Abstract

The WRKY family has been found in 14 plant species, and its members are mostly involved in plant stress resistance. Apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.) trees are extremely drought tolerant, but the molecular mechanisms have not yet been elucidated. Therefore, we investigated the WRKY gene family in apricot and analyzed the gene expression patterns in response to drought stress. A total of 56 candidate WRKY genes (PaWRKY1–56) were identified in the apricot genome. The putative proteins contain 162–1055 amino acids, with an isoelectric point of 5.0–9.68 and molecular weight of 18.76–114.2 Da. The PaWRKY family has a heptapeptide domain (WRKY) and zinc finger domain (CX5-7CX22-23HXH), which show differential variations among three groups. Group I has 12 members, with 2 WRKY and zinc finger domains located at the C and N terminus, respectively. Group II can be further divided into II-b, II-c, II-d, and II-e, with 10, 13, 6, and 7 members, respectively. Group III has eight members. Members of groups II and III have one WRKY and one zinc finger domain. Fifty-one PaWRKY genes are unevenly distributed across eight linkage groups. Only one tandem repeat event was detected, and gene duplication was identified as the main factor driving gene evolution. A total of 28 PaWRKY genes responded to the drought–rehydration treatment. In particular, drought stress up-regulated PaWRKY11/14/48 expression and down-regulated PaWRKY23 expression. The genome-wide identification, functional characterization, and evolutionary analysis of the PaWRKY family yield new insights into the role of WRKY in the drought tolerance of apricot trees.

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Data are available upon request to the corresponded author.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Talents Construction Project of Science and Technology Innovation, Hebei Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences (No. C19R0701), the Innovation Team Project of Hebei Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences (No. F20e06001-3), the Key R & D project of Hebei Province (No. 21326310D), and the Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Horticultural Crops (Germplasm Resources Utilization), Ministry of Agriculture, P.R.China (No. NYZS202103).

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Author notes

  1. Duan Wang, Zhikun Liu, Xuefeng Chen and Hui Dong have contributed equally to the work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Horticultural Crops (Germplasm Resources Utilization), Ministry of Agriculture, 125100, Xingcheng, Liaoning, China

    Chenjuan Jing

  2. Shijiazhuang Institute of Pomology, Hebei Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Science, 050061, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, China

    Chenjuan Jing, Duan Wang, Zhikun Liu, Xuefeng Chen, Hui Dong & Xiaohong Wu

  3. National Pear Improvement Center, 050061, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, China

    Chenjuan Jing, Duan Wang, Zhikun Liu, Xuefeng Chen, Hui Dong & Xiaohong Wu

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  1. Chenjuan Jing
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Contributions

CJ and XW perceived and planned the study. Experimentation and data analysis was done by CJ, DW, ZL, and XC. The manuscript was written by CJ, ZL, and DW. CJ, DW, and HD edited the manuscript. All authors discussed the results and contributed to the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Chenjuan Jing.

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Communicated by Ali Sarkhosh.

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Jing, C., Wang, D., Liu, Z. et al. Identification of the WRKY gene family in apricot and its response to drought stress. Hortic. Environ. Biotechnol. 64, 269–282 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13580-022-00465-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13580-022-00465-z

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