Genome-wide identification of the C2H2 zinc finger gene family and expression analysis under salt stress in sweetpotato

Taifeng Du; Yuanyuan Zhou; Zhen Qin; Aixian Li; Qingmei Wang; Zongyun Li; Fuyun Hou; Liming Zhang

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1301848

Genome-wide identification of the C2H2 zinc finger gene family and expression analysis under salt stress in sweetpotato

Front Plant Sci. 2023 Dec 13:14:1301848. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1301848. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Taifeng Du¹, Yuanyuan Zhou², Zhen Qin², Aixian Li², Qingmei Wang², Zongyun Li¹, Fuyun Hou², Liming Zhang^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Phylogeny and Comparative Genomics of the Jiangsu Province, School of Life Sciences, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou, China.
² Crop Research Institute, Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of Tuber and Root Crops in Huang-Huai-Hai Region, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Jinan, China.

Abstract

Introduction: The higher plant transcription factor C2H2 zinc finger protein (C2H2-ZFP) is essential for plant growth, development, and stress response. There are limited studies on C2H2-ZFP genes in sweetpotato, despite a substantial number of C2H2-ZFP genes having been systematically found in plants.

Methods: In this work, 178 C2H2-ZFP genes were found in sweetpotato, distributed randomly on 15 chromosomes, and given new names according to where they were located. These members of the zinc finger gene family are separated into six branches, as shown by the phylogenetic tree. 24 tandem repeats of IbZFP genes and 46 fragment repeats were identified, and a homology study revealed that IbZFP genes linked more regions with wild relative species of sweetpotato as well as rhizome plants like potato and cassava. And we analyzed the expression patterns of IbZFP genes during the early development of sweetpotato storage roots (SRs) and salt stress using transcriptome data, and identified 44 IbZFP genes that exhibited differences in expression levels during the early expansion of sweetpotato SRs in different varieties, and 92 IbZFP genes that exhibited differences in expression levels under salt stress in salt tolerant and salt sensitive sweetpotato varieties. Additionally, we cloned six IbZFP genes in sweetpotato and analyzed their expression patterns in different tissues, their expression patterns under abiotic stress and hormone treatment, and subcellular localization.

Results and discussion: The results showed that the IbZFP genes had tissue specificity in sweetpotato and were induced to varying degrees by drought and salt stress. ABA and GA₃ treatments also affected the expression of the IbZFP genes. We selected IbZFP105, which showed significant differences in expression levels under salt stress and ABA treatment, to be heterologously expressed in Arabidopsis thaliana. We found that IbZFP105 OE lines exhibited higher tolerance to salt stress and ABA stress. This indicates that IbZFP105 can enhance the salt tolerance of plants. These results systematically identified the evolution and expression patterns of members of the C2H2-ZFP gene family in sweetpotato, providing a theoretical basis for studying the role of IbZFP genes in the development of sweetpotato SRs and in resistance to stress.

Keywords: C2H2-Zinc finger protein; expression profiles; salt stress; sweetpotato; synteny analysis.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This study was supported by the Key R&D Program of Shandong Province, China (2022TZXD0028), China Agriculture Research System of Sweet potato (CARS-10-GW08), Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (KYCX21_2602), the Agricultural Seed Project of Shandong Province (2020LZGC004),3the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2021MC092).