Akebia trifoliata is an economically important, self-incompatible fruit tree in the Lardizabalaceae family. Asexual propagation is the main strategy used to maintain excellent agronomic traits. However, the generation of adventitious roots during asexual propagation is very difficult. To study the important role of the WUSCHEL-related homeobox (WOX) transcription factor in adventitious root growth and development, we characterized this transcription factor family in the whole genome of A. trifoliata. A total of 10 AktWOXs were identified, with the following characteristics: length (657~11,328 bp), exon number (2~5), isoelectric point (5.65~9.03), amino acid number (176~361 AA) and molecular weight (20.500~40.173 kDa), and their corresponding expression sequence could also be detectable in the public transcriptomic data for A. trifoliata fruit. A total of 10 AktWOXs were classified into modern (6), intermediate (2) and ancient clades (2) and all AktWOXs had undergone strong purifying selection during evolution. The expression profile of AktWOXs during A. trifoliata adventitious root formation indicated that AktWOXs play an important role in the regulation of adventitious root development. Overall, this is the first study to identify and characterize the WOX family in A. trifoliata and will be helpful for further research on A. trifoliata adventitious root formation.
Keywords: Akebia trifoliata; WUSCHEL-related homeobox; adventitious roots; transcription factor.