Genome-wide Identification and Expression Analysis of WUS Gene Subfamily in Wheat (Triticum aestivum) Pistil and Stamen
ZHAO Ruo-Nan1, ZOU Rui2, YAMAMOTO Naoki1, CHEN Zhen-Yong1, WU Yi-Chao1, JIANG Jin3, PENG Zheng-Song4, YANG Zai-Jun1,*
1 College of Life Science/Key Laboratory of Southwest China Wildlife Resources Conservation, China West Normal University, Nanchong 637000, China; 2 Agricultural Product Quality Inspection and monitoring Center of Aba Sichuan Province, Ma-erkang 624011, China; 3 Nanchong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanchong 637000, China; 4 School of Agricultural Science, Xichang University, Xichang 615013, China
Abstract：WUSCHEL (WUS) is a homeodomain transcription factor, an evolutionary branch of the WOX family, which may play an important role in embryogenesis and bud regeneration in plant cells by regulating the expression of specific target genes. In this study, a total of 25 WUS genes were identified in the entire genome of wheat (Triticum aestivum) by bioinformatics methods. These genes were distributed unevenly on the first, second, third and the fifth homologous group of chromosomes, with tandem duplication observed on the third homologous group chromosomes. Conserved domain and structural analysis showed that motif 1 and motif 3 were present in all members of the family, and the WUS proteins clustered together showed similar gene structure according to the evolutionary tree. A total of 18 hormone response and abiotic stress response elements were identified in the promoter region of TaWUSs. Tissue expression profile analysis showed that the 25 detected TaWUSs had obvious tissue expression specificity in wheat, and most of them showed high expression in the floral reproductive organs. qRT-PCR results also confirmed that TaWUS-2A1, TaWUS-3B2, TaWUS-3D2, TaWUS-5A1, TaWUS-5B1 and TaWUS-5D1 were highly expressed in stamens, and TaWUS-3D1 was highly expressed in pistils. Especially, the high expression of TaWUS-1A, TaWUS-1B, TaWUS-1D, and TaWUS-2D1 in pistillody stamens might indicate their involvement in regulating the formation of stamen homologous transformation into pistil traits in the wheat homologous transformation sterility-1 (HTS-1). This study provides a theoretical basis for further research on the function of wheat WUS subfamily genes in wheat.
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