Insight into the bZIP gene family in Lagenaria siceraria: Genome and transcriptome analysis to understand gene diversification in Cucurbitaceae and the roles of LsbZIP gene expression and function under cold stress

Jian Wang; Ying Wang; Xinyi Wu; Baogen Wang; Zhongfu Lu; Liping Zhong; Guojing Li; Xiaohua Wu

doi:10.3389/fpls.2022.1128007

Insight into the bZIP gene family in Lagenaria siceraria: Genome and transcriptome analysis to understand gene diversification in Cucurbitaceae and the roles of LsbZIP gene expression and function under cold stress

Front Plant Sci. 2023 Feb 17:13:1128007. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.1128007. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Jian Wang¹, Ying Wang¹, Xinyi Wu¹, Baogen Wang¹, Zhongfu Lu¹, Liping Zhong², Guojing Li^{1

3}, Xiaohua Wu¹

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Vegetables, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, China.
² College of Horticulture Science, Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry (A&F) University, Hangzhou, China.
³ State Key Laboratory for Managing Biotic and Chemical Threats to the Quality and Safety of Agro-Products, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, China.

Abstract

The basic leucine zipper (bZIP) as a well-known transcription factor family, figures prominently in diverse biological and developmental processes and response to abiotic/biotic stresses. However, no knowledge of the bZIP family is available for the important edible Cucurbitaceae crop bottle gourd. Herein, we identified 65 putative LsbZIP genes and characterized their gene structure, phylogenetic and orthologous relationships, gene expression profiles in different tissues and cultivars, and responsive genes under cold stress. The phylogenetic tree of 16 released Cucurbitaceae plant genomes revealed the evolutionary convergence and divergence of bZIP family. Based on the specific domains, LsbZIP family were classified into 12 clades (A-K, S) with similar motifs and exon-intron distribution. 65 LsbZIP genes have undergone 19 segmental and two tandem duplication events with purifying selection. The expression profiling of LsbZIP genes showed tissue-specific but no cultivar-specific pattern. The cold stress-responsive candidate LsbZIP genes were analyzed and validated by RNA-Seq and RT-PCR, providing new insights of transcriptional regulation of bZIP family genes in bottle gourd and their potential functions in cold-tolerant variety breeding.

Keywords: Cucurbitaceae evolution; Lagenaria siceraria; bZIP transcription factor; cold stress; expression pattern.

Grants and funding

This study was mainly supported by Key Research and Development Programs of Zhejiang Province (Grant No. 2021C02052 and 2021C02042), the Key Science Project of Vegetable Breeding in Zhejiang (14th Five-Year Plan) (2021C02065).