Identification of the WRKY Gene Family and Analysis of Its Expression in Response to Freezing Stress in Helichrysum arenarium
LIU Xin-Xin1, GU Yu-Feng1, GE Feng-Wei1,*, LAI Cheng-Xia2,*
1 College of Life Science/Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Special Species Conservation and Regulatory Biology, Xinjiang Normal University, Urumqi 830017, China; 2 Cotton Research Institute, Xinjiang Cotton Technology Innovation Center, Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Cotton Genetic Improvement and Intelligent Production/National Cotton Engineering Technology Research Center, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Urumqi 830091, China
Abstract：WRKY transcription factor is an important transcription factor in plants. In this study, the HaWRKY transcription factor family of Helichrysum arenarium was identified by bioinformatics methods based on the transcriptome data, and the expression patterns of some candidate genes in different tissues and under freezing stress conditions were systematically analyzed. A total of 64 HaWRKY members were identified in the transcriptome of Helichrysum arenarium. The number of amino acid residues was 51~827, the molecular weight was 5 770.67~93 841.55 D, and the pI was 4.75~10.27. Among them, 65% were alkaline proteins, 87% were unstable proteins, and the rest were hydrophilic proteins except HaWRKY18. Subcellular localization prediction showed that most HaWRKY were located in the nucleus. Conserved motif analysis showed that most of the HaWRKY family members contained Motif 1 and Motif 2, and similar conserved motifs were found in the same group. Conserved domain analysis showed that HaWRKY gene family contained 1~2 WRKY superfamily conserved domains. The phylogenetic tree showed that HaWRKY was divided into 3 subfamilies, which were closely related to Arabidopsis thaliana. The secondary structure analysis showed that random coil accounted for a large proportion. Protein network interaction found that there were extensive interactions among 29 members. GO analysis showed that HaWRKY gene was involved in the growth and stress response of H. arenarium. Tissue expression analysis showed that the expression of 11 HaWRKY genes was tissue-specific. The expression analysis under freezing stress showed that 11 HaWRKY genes were up-regulated to varying degrees. This study not only comprehensively identified the WRKY gene family of H. arenarium, but also provides a theoretical basis for further revealing the molecular mechanism of this family in regulating organ development and freezing injury response.
刘欣欣, 谷玉风, 葛风伟, 赖成霞. 沙生蜡菊WRKY基因家族鉴定及其响应冻害胁迫表达分析[J]. 农业生物技术学报, 2026, 34(2): 323-339.
LIU Xin-Xin, GU Yu-Feng, GE Feng-Wei, LAI Cheng-Xia. Identification of the WRKY Gene Family and Analysis of Its Expression in Response to Freezing Stress in Helichrysum arenarium. 农业生物技术学报, 2026, 34(2): 323-339.
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