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Identification, expression analysis, and function evaluation of 42 tomato DEAD-box RNA helicase genes in growth development and stress response

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Abstract

DEAD-box RNA helicases play pivotal roles in almost all processes in RNA metabolisms, associated with various cellular functions including plant development and the response to abiotic stress. Previously, although DEAD-box genes were identified in tomato genome, specific molecular characterizations regarding development- and/or stress-related tomato DEAD-box genes are still rudimentary. In this study, a systematic expression analysis and function evaluation of 42 DEAD-box RNA helicase genes was conducted in the growth development and stress response of tomato using qRT-PCR. The results revealed that these SlDEAD genes showed discrepant tissue-/organ-specific (such as leaf, flower and fruit) expression levels, indicating that they might play important and different roles in tomato development. Variant expression profiles of many SlDEAD genes were observed when treated with different hormones including ABA, ACC, GA3, IAA, and SA. Moreover, the transcription of multiple tomato SlDEAD genes was also upregulated by multiple abiotic stresses, such as salinity, dehydration, and heat and cold stresses. Cumulatively, the data will be valuable to comprehensive functional characterization of SlDEAD genes, and to support the thesis that DEAD-box RNA helicases may represent one of the main components that mediate hormone signaling and stress responses in tomato.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD), National Natural Science Foundation of China (31700226), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province of China (BK20160215, BK20150229), Natural science fund for colleges and universities in Jiangsu Province (16KJB210004, 15KJB210001).

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  1. Jing Cai and Xiaoqing Meng contributed equally to this work.

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  1. School of Life Sciences, Jiangsu Normal University, 101 Shanghai Road, Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, People’s Republic of China

    Jing Cai, Xiaoqing Meng, Ge Li, Tingting Dong, Jian Sun, Tao Xu, Zongyun Li, Yonghua Han & Mingku Zhu

  2. Jiangsu Key laboratory of Phylogenomics and Comparative Genomics, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, People’s Republic of China

    Jing Cai, Xiaoqing Meng, Ge Li, Tingting Dong, Jian Sun, Tao Xu, Zongyun Li, Yonghua Han & Mingku Zhu

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  1. Jing Cai
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Cai, J., Meng, X., Li, G. et al. Identification, expression analysis, and function evaluation of 42 tomato DEAD-box RNA helicase genes in growth development and stress response. Acta Physiol Plant 40, 94 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-018-2665-0

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