Global identification, structural analysis and expression characterization of bHLH transcription factors in wheat

BMC Plant Biology

Research Article

Ji-Rui Wang¹  Xiao-Jiang Guo¹ 

[1]Triticeae Research Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University, 611130, Chengdu, China

关键词: bHLH;    Transcription factor;    RNA-Seq;    Expression pattern;    Wheat;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12870-017-1038-y

 received in 2016-11-25, accepted in 2017-05-15,  发布年份 2017

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundBasic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors (TFs), which are widely distributed in eukaryotic organisms, play crucial roles in plant development. However, no comprehensive analysis of the bHLH family in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) has been undertaken previously.ResultsIn this study, 225 bHLH TFs predicted from wheat using genomic and RNA sequencing data were subjected to identification, classification, phylogenetic reconstruction, conserved motif characterization, chromosomal distribution determination and expression pattern analysis. One basic region, two helix regions and one loop region were found to be conserved in wheat bHLH TFs. The bHLH proteins could be separated into four categories based on sequences in their basic regions. Neighbor-joining-based phylogenetic analysis of conserved bHLH domains from wheat, Arabidopsis and rice identified 26 subfamilies of bHLH TFs, of which 23 were found in wheat. A total of 82 wheat bHLH genes had orthologs in Arabidopsis (27 TFs), rice (28 TFs) and both of them (27 TFs). Seven tissue-specific bHLH TF clusters were identified according to their expression patterns in endosperm, aleurone, seedlings, heading-stage spikes, flag leaves, shoots and roots. Expression levels of six endosperm-specifically expressed TFs measured by qPCR and RNA-seq showed a good correlation.ConclusionThe 225 bHLH transcription factors identified from wheat could be classed into 23 subfamilies, and those members from the same subfamily with similar sequence motifs generally have similar expression patterns.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2017