Genome-wide identification of the PEBP genes in pears and the putative role of PbFT in flower bud differentiation

Shuliang Zhao; Yarui Wei; Hongguang Pang; Jianfeng Xu; Yingli Li; Haixia Zhang; Jianguang Zhang; Yuxing Zhang

doi:10.7717/peerj.8928

Genome-wide identification of the PEBP genes in pears and the putative role of PbFT in flower bud differentiation

PeerJ. 2020 Apr 9:8:e8928. doi: 10.7717/peerj.8928. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Shuliang Zhao¹, Yarui Wei¹, Hongguang Pang¹, Jianfeng Xu¹, Yingli Li¹, Haixia Zhang¹, Jianguang Zhang¹, Yuxing Zhang¹

Affiliation

¹ College of Horticulture, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, Hebei, China.

Abstract

Although Phosphatidylethanolamine-binding protein (PEBP) genes have been identified in several plants, little is known about PEBP genes in pears. In this study, a total of 24 PEBP genes were identified, in which 10, 5 and 9 were from Pyrus bretschneideri genome, Pyrus communis genome and Pyrus betuleafolia genome, respectively. Subsequently, gene structure, phylogenetic relationship, chromosomal localization, promoter regions, collinearity and expression were determined with these PEBP genes. It was found that only PbFT from PEBP genes of P. bretschneideri was relatively highly expressed in leaves during flower bud differentiation. Whereas, expression patterns of TFL1 homologues, gene23124 and gene16540, were different from PbFT in buds. The expression pattern and the treatment of reduction day-length indicated that the expression of PbFT in leaves were regulated by day-length and circadian clock. Additionally, the phenotype of transgenic Arabidopsis suggested that PbFT played a role in not only promoting flower bud differentiation, but also regulating the balance between vegetative and reproductive growth. These results may provide important information for further understanding of the evolution and function of PEBP genes in pears.

Keywords: Function; Genome-wide; PEBP; PbFT; Pear.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the Agriculture Research System of China (CARS-28) and the Graduate Student Innovation Fund Project in Hebei Province (CXZZBS2020088). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.