Genome-wide characterization and expression analysis of bHLH gene family in physic nut (Jatropha curcas L.)

PeerJ. 2022 Aug 9:10:e13786. doi: 10.7717/peerj.13786. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

The basic helix loop helix (bHLH) transcription factor perform essential roles in plant development and abiotic stress. Here, a total of 122 bHLH family members were identified from the physic nut (Jatropha curcas L.) genomic database. Chromosomal localization results showed that 120 members were located on 11 chromosomes. The phylogenetic tree manifested that the JcbHLHs could be grouped into 28 subfamilies. Syntenic analysis showed that there were 10 bHLH collinear genes among the physic nut, Arabidopsis thaliana and Oryza sativa. These genes, except JcbHLH84, were highly expressed in various tissues of the physic nut, implying a key role in plant development. Gene expression profiles showed that ten genes (especially JcbHLH33, JcbHLH45 and JcbHLH55) correspond to both salinity and drought stresses; while eight genes only respond to salinity and another eight genes only respond to drought stress. Moreover, the protein interaction network revealed that the JcbHLHs are involved in growth, development and stress signal transduction pathways. These discoveries will help to excavate several key genes may involve in salt or drought stresses and seed development, elucidate the complex transcriptional regulation mechanism of JcbHLH genes and provide the theoretical basis for stress response and genetic improvement of physic nut.

Keywords: Abiotic stress; Physic nut; bHLH transcription factor.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Arabidopsis* / genetics
  • Genes, Plant
  • Genome, Plant / genetics
  • Jatropha* / genetics
  • Phylogeny
  • Plant Proteins / genetics

Substances

  • Plant Proteins

Grants and funding

This work was funded by the Education Department of Henan Province (No. 16A180030), the Science and Technology Department of Henan Province (No. 172102110103), the National fund pre-research projects (No. 2018YZ10, 2018YZ14) and the Scientific Research Projects for High Level Talents (No. 2014BZ02, 2014BZ03 and 2014BZ07) of Luoyang Institute of Science and Technology. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.