Abstract
Growing coffee faces challenges regarding the development and productivity of plants. To improve coffee tree cultivation and bean productivity and quality, modern techniques of plant biotechnology need to be adopted that allow the development of more productive and resistant varieties. Among these, somatic embryogenesis stands out as a method of great potential for the propagation of coffee plants in vitro. Some genes are directly related to somatic embryogenesis, especially WOX (WUSHEL-related HOMEOBOX) genes, which play a central role in the process. Therefore, the objective of this study was to identify and analyze the expression pattern of WOX genes in arabica coffee, Coffea arabica. In silico analyses identified seven WOX genes in arabica coffee: Coffea arabica WUSHEL-like (CaWUS-like), Coffea arabica WOX1-like (CaWOX1-like), CaWOX3-like, CaWOX4-like, CaWOX5-like, CaWOX9-like and CaWOX11-like. The transcriptional profile of the CaWOX11-like gene suggests that it may be intrinsically related to the embryogenic process and may be used as a molecular marker. In addition, comparisons of the present results with those from the literature indicate that WOX genes are key regulators of somatic embryogenesis in arabica coffee.
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Abbreviations
- CRISPR-Cas9:
-
Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats – Cas9
- SE:
-
Somatic Embryogenesis
- WOX:
-
WUSHEL-related HOMEOBOX
- HD:
-
Homeodomain
- HB:
-
Homeobox
- RT-qPCR:
-
Reverse Transcription–quantitative real-time PCR
- EST:
-
Expressed Sequence Tag
- cDNA:
-
complementary DNA
- BLAST:
-
Basic Local Alignment Search
- ORF:
-
Open Reading Frame
- PlantTFDB:
-
Plant transcription factor database
- MEME:
-
Multiple Expectation Minimization for Motif Elicitation
- NCBI:
-
National Center for Biotechnology Information
- AR1/LP1:
-
Plantlets and leaves treated with arachidonic acid
- EA1/IA/IA2:
-
Embryogenic calli
- CA1/IC1/PC1:
-
Non-embryogenic calli
- WUS:
-
WUSHEL
- WOX1:
-
WUSHEL-related HOMEOBOX 1
- WOX2:
-
WUSHEL-related HOMEOBOX 2
- WOX3:
-
WUSHEL-related HOMEOBOX 3
- WOX4:
-
WUSHEL-related HOMEOBOX 4
- WOX5:
-
WUSHEL-related HOMEOBOX 5
- WOX6:
-
WUSHEL-related HOMEOBOX 6
- WOX7:
-
WUSHEL-related HOMEOBOX 7
- WOX8:
-
WUSHEL-related HOMEOBOX 8
- WOX9:
-
WUSHEL-related HOMEOBOX 9
- WOX10:
-
WUSHEL-related HOMEOBOX 10
- WOX11:
-
WUSHEL-related HOMEOBOX 11
- WOX12:
-
WUSHEL-related HOMEOBOX 12
- WOX13:
-
WUSHEL-related HOMEOBOX 13
- WOX14:
-
WUSHEL-related HOMEOBOX 14
- CaWUS-like:
-
Coffea arabica WUSHEL-like
- CaWOX1-like:
-
Coffea arabica WUSHEL-related HOMEOBOX 1-like
- CaWOX3-like:
-
Coffea arabica WUSHEL-related HOMEOBOX 3-like
- CaWOX4-like:
-
Coffea arabica WUSHEL-related HOMEOBOX 4-like
- CaWOX5-like:
-
Coffea arabica WUSHEL-related HOMEOBOX 5-like
- CaWOX9-like:
-
Coffea arabica WUSHEL-related HOMEOBOX 9-like
- CaWOX11-like:
-
Coffea arabica WUSHEL-related HOMEOBOX 11-like
- VvWOX:
-
(Vitis vinifera WUSHEL-related HOMEOBOX)
- VvWOX11:
-
(Vitis vinifera WUSHEL-related HOMEOBOX 11)
- MtWOX11-like:
-
Medicago truncatula WUSHEL-related HOMEOBOX 11-like
- SERK1:
-
SOMATIC EMBRYOGENESIS RECEPTOR-LIKE KINASES
- BBM:
-
BABY BOOM-like
- RPL39:
-
Ribosomal protein L39
- 24S:
-
Ribosomal protein 24S
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This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001) and the Universidade Federal do Tocantins (UFT).
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Daude, M.M., Dos Santos Silva, T.W., Freitas, N.C. et al. Transcriptional analysis of WUSCHEL-related HOMEOBOX (WOX) genes in Coffea arabica L.. Biologia 75, 1483–1495 (2020). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11756-020-00460-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/s11756-020-00460-8