Genome-wide identification of ZF-HD gene family in Triticum aestivum: Molecular evolution mechanism and function analysis

PLoS One. 2021 Sep 24;16(9):e0256579. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0256579. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

ZF-HD family genes play important roles in plant growth and development. Studies about the whole genome analysis of ZF-HD gene family have been reported in some plant species. In this study, the whole genome identification and expression profile of the ZF-HD gene family were analyzed for the first time in wheat. A total of 37 TaZF-HD genes were identified and divided into TaMIF and TaZHD subfamilies according to the conserved domain. The phylogeny tree of the TaZF-HD proteins was further divided into six groups based on the phylogenetic relationship. The 37 TaZF-HDs were distributed on 18 of 21 chromosomes, and almost all the genes had no introns. Gene duplication and Ka/Ks analysis showed that the gene family may have experienced powerful purification selection pressure during wheat evolution. The qRT-PCR analysis showed that TaZF-HD genes had significant expression patterns in different biotic stress and abiotic stress. Through subcellular localization experiments, we found that TaZHD6-3B was located in the nucleus, while TaMIF4-5D was located in the cell membrane and nucleus. Our research contributes to a comprehensive understanding of the TaZF-HD family, provides a new perspective for further research on the biological functions of TaZF-HD genes in wheat.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Chromosome Mapping
  • Chromosomes, Plant / genetics
  • Evolution, Molecular*
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / genetics
  • Genome, Plant / genetics
  • Genome-Wide Association Study
  • Multigene Family
  • Plant Proteins / genetics*
  • Stress, Physiological / genetics
  • Triticum / genetics*

Substances

  • Plant Proteins

Grants and funding

This research is funded by Major Special Projects of China National Tobacco Corporation in 2019 and Science and Technology Project of Hubei Tobacco Company in 2019. The grantee Pengliang Xia, who also played a role in the data curation and formal analysis of this research. In addition, this research has also received funding from Open Project Program of Key Laboratory of Integrated Pest Management on Crop in Central China, Ministry of Agriculture/Hubei Province Key Laboratory for Control of Crop Diseases, Pest and Weeds. The grantee Dongfang Ma is the corresponding author of this manuscript, and he also supervised the research process.