Analysis of the HD-Zip I transcription factor family in Salvia miltiorrhiza and functional research of SmHD-Zip12 in tanshinone synthesis

Yanhong Bai; Ying Zhou; Qiaoqi Lei; Yu Wang; Gaobin Pu; Zhenhua Liu; Xue Chen; Qian Liu

doi:10.7717/peerj.15510

Analysis of the HD-Zip I transcription factor family in Salvia miltiorrhiza and functional research of SmHD-Zip12 in tanshinone synthesis

PeerJ. 2023 Jun 27:11:e15510. doi: 10.7717/peerj.15510. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yanhong Bai¹, Ying Zhou¹, Qiaoqi Lei¹, Yu Wang¹, Gaobin Pu¹, Zhenhua Liu¹, Xue Chen¹, Qian Liu^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ College of Pharmacy, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan, Shandong, China.
² LiShizhen College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Huanggang Normal University, Huanggang, Hubei, China.

Abstract

Background: The homeodomain-leucine zipper I (HD-Zip I) transcription factor is a plant-specific protein that plays an essential role in the abiotic stress response of plants. Research on the HD-Zip I family in Salvia miltiorrhiza is still lacking.

Methods and results: In this study, a total of 25 SmHD-Zip I proteins were identified. Their characterizations, phylogenetic relationships, conserved motifs, gene structures, and cis-elements were analyzed comprehensively using bioinformatics methods. Expression profiling revealed that SmHD-Zip I genes exhibited distinctive tissue-specific patterns and divergent responses to ABA, PEG, and NaCl stresses. SmHD-Zip12 responded the most strongly to ABA, PEG, and NaCl, so it was used for transgenic experiments. The overexpression of SmHD-Zip12 significantly increased the content of cryptotanshinone, dihydrotanshinone I, tanshinone I, and tanshinone IIA by 2.89-fold, 1.85-fold, 2.14-fold, and 8.91-fold compared to the wild type, respectively. Moreover, in the tanshinone biosynthetic pathways, the overexpression of SmHD-Zip12 up-regulated the expression levels of SmAACT, SmDXS, SmIDS, SmGGPPS, SmCPS1, SmCPS2, SmCYP76AH1, SmCYP76AH3, and SmCYP76AK1 compared with the wild type.

Conclusions: This study provides information the possible functions of the HD-Zip I family and lays a theoretical foundation for clarifying the functional mechanism of the SmHD-Zip12 gene in regulating the synthesis of tanshinone in S. miltiorrhiza.

Keywords: Abiotic stresses; Expression analysis; HD-Zip I family; Salvia miltiorrhiza; SmHD-Zip12; Tanshinone.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / genetics
Phylogeny
Salvia miltiorrhiza* / genetics
Sodium Chloride / metabolism
Transcription Factors / genetics

Substances

tanshinone
Transcription Factors
Sodium Chloride

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82003892); National Modern Agricultural Industry Technology System (CARS-21); the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2021QH202); and the Traditional Chinese Medicine Science and Technology Project of Shandong Province (2021Q074). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.