Comprehensive analysis of mitogen-activated protein kinase cascades in chrysanthemum

Aiping Song; Yueheng Hu; Lian Ding; Xue Zhang; Peiling Li; Ye Liu; Fadi Chen

doi:10.7717/peerj.5037

Comprehensive analysis of mitogen-activated protein kinase cascades in chrysanthemum

PeerJ. 2018 Jun 19:6:e5037. doi: 10.7717/peerj.5037. eCollection 2018.

Authors

Aiping Song^#¹, Yueheng Hu^#¹, Lian Ding¹, Xue Zhang¹, Peiling Li², Ye Liu¹, Fadi Chen¹

Affiliations

¹ College of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Key Laboratory of Landscape Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
² College of Horticulture, Xinyang Agricultural and Forestry University, Xinyang, Henan, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Background: Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades, an important type of pathway in eukaryotic signaling networks, play a key role in plant defense responses, growth and development.

Methods: Phylogenetic analysis and conserved motif analysis of the MKK and MPK families in Arabidopsis thaliana, Helianthus annuus and Chrysanthemum morifolium classified MKK genes and MPK genes. qRT-PCR was used for the expression patterns of CmMPK and CmMKK genes, and yeast two-hybrid assay was applied to clear the interaction between CmMPKs and CmMKKs.

Results: We characterized six MKK genes and 11 MPK genes in chrysanthemum based on transcriptomic sequences and classified these genes into four groups. qRT-PCR analysis demonstrated that CmMKKs and CmMPKs exhibited various expression patterns in different organs of chrysanthemum and in response to abiotic stresses and phytohormone treatments. Furthermore, a yeast two-hybrid assay was applied to analyze the interaction between CmMKKs and CmMPKs and reveal the MAPK cascades in chrysanthemum.

Discussion: Our data led us to propose that CmMKK4-CmMPK13 and CmMKK2-CmMPK4 may be involved in regulating salt resistance and in the relationship between CmMKK9 and CmMPK6 and temperature stress.

Keywords: Chrysanthemum morifolium; Mitogen-activated protein kinase; Phylogenetic analysis; Protein-protein interaction; Stress and development response.

Grants and funding

This study was funded by the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (31425022), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31730081, 31501792, 31700620), the Natural Science Fund of Jiangsu Province (BK20170722), 333 High Level Personnel Training Project of Jiangsu Province (BRA2017382) and the Foundation of Key Laboratory of Landscaping (KF201801), Ministry of Agriculture, P.R. China. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.