Genome Wide Identification and Expression Analysis of the WRKY Gene Family in Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius)
QIN Juan, LU Wei-Wen, LI Bin, LI Chen, WANG Pei-Ya*, WANG Zhi-Ye*
Laboratory of Microbial Resources Exploitation and Application of Gansu Province/Characteristic microorganisms and plant resource innovation International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Base of Gansu, Institute of Biology, Gansu Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
Abstract：WRKY transcription factors are a class of transcription factors that are unique and conserved in plants, playing important regulatory roles in plant growth, development, and secondary metabolism. To explore the WRKY genes involved in the regulation of flavonoid metabolism in safflower (Carthamus tinctorius), the WRKY family genes of safflower, were identified and analyzed at the genome level in this study. Utilizing the genome and transcriptome data of safflower, this study identified 87 CtWRKY genes, distributing across 12 chromosomes. Subcellular localization prediction showed that the vast majority (85) of CtWRKY family members were located in the nucleus. Evolutionary analysis showed that CtWRKY genes could be categorized into 3 groups (GroupⅠ/Ⅱ/Ⅲ) and 5 subgroups (GroupⅡa/b/c/d/e) in GroupⅡ, with the highest number of WRKYs (52.87%). The analysis of protein motif showed that all CtWRKY proteins contained a highly conserved motif WRKYGQK. Collinearity analysis indicated that there were 39 pairs of segmental duplication genes in safflower CtWRKY gene family. RNA-seq analysis showed that there were obvious differences in the expression of CtWRKY gene family members in different tissues. Furthermore, the transcriptional profiles of 9 CtWRKY genes highly expressed in full bloom petals were investigated using qRT-PCR analysis. Results showed that a total of 9 CtWRKY genes were differentially expressed in response to abscisic acid (ABA) and methyl jasmonate (MeJA) treatment. This study provides a basis for further elucidating the function of WRKY transcription factors in the biosynthesis of flavonoids in safflower.
秦娟, 卢蔚雯, 李斌, 李晨, 王沛雅, 王治业. 红花WRKY基因家族全基因组鉴定及其表达分析[J]. 农业生物技术学报, 2025, 33(9): 1907-1920.
QIN Juan, LU Wei-Wen, LI Bin, LI Chen, WANG Pei-Ya, WANG Zhi-Ye. Genome Wide Identification and Expression Analysis of the WRKY Gene Family in Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius). 农业生物技术学报, 2025, 33(9): 1907-1920.
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