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Characterization and expression analysis of cytokinin biosynthesis genes in Fragaria vesca

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Abstract

Strawberry is one of the most economically important fruit crops in the world. Cytokinins (CKs) play a critical role in plant growth and development, as well as the stress response, and the level of CKs in plants is regulated by synthesis and degradation pathways. The key synthetic enzymes of CKs are isopentenyl transferases (IPTs) and LONELY GUYS (LOGs). We surveyed the strawberry genome and identified seven FvIPT genes and nine FvLOG genes. We analyzed gene structures, conserved domains, and their phylogenetic relationships with rice and Arabidopsis. The isoelectric points and glycosylation sites of the proteins were predicted. We also analyzed tissue- or organ-specific expression patterns of the FvIPT and FvLOG genes. The FvIPT and FvLOG genes showed different expression profiles in different organs. Most FvIPT and FvLOG genes were down-regulated in response to osmotic stress, high-temperature treatment, and exogenous abscisic acid (ABA) application, suggesting possible roles of these genes in the plants’ resistance to abiotic stresses. In addition, we found that the results of bioinformatics analyses to identify cis-regulatory elements may not be consistent with experimental expression data; thus, computer-predicted putative cis-elements need to be confirmed by experiments. Our systematic analyses of the FvIPT and FvLOG families provide a foundation for characterizing the function of these genes in the regulation of growth, development, and stress tolerance in Fragaria vesca, as well as a reference for improving stress tolerance by manipulating CK content.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported financially by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31471860 and 31672124), and the Open Project of State Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Germplasm Enhancement (ZW2014008).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Germplasm Enhancement and College of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China

    Xianna Mi, Xiaojing Wang, Han Wu, Jing Ding & Yi Li

  2. College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China

    Lijun Gan

  3. Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, 026269, USA

    Yi Li

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  1. Xianna Mi
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  2. Xiaojing Wang
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Correspondence to Lijun Gan or Jing Ding.

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Mi, X., Wang, X., Wu, H. et al. Characterization and expression analysis of cytokinin biosynthesis genes in Fragaria vesca . Plant Growth Regul 82, 139–149 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-016-0246-z

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