Transcriptome-wide identification of WRKY transcription factor and their expression profiles under salt stress in sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas L.)

• Published in: Plant biotechnology reports Vol. 14; no. 5; pp. 599 - 611
• Main Authors: Qin, Zhen, Hou, Fuyun, Li, Aixian, Dong, Shuxu, Wang, Qingmei, Zhang, Liming
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Singapore Springer Singapore 01.10.2020; Springer Nature B.V; 한국식물생명공학회
• Subjects: Abiotic stress; Agriculture; Amino acids; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biotechnology; Cell Biology; Data analysis; Frequency analysis; Gene expression; Genes; Ipomoea batatas; Life Sciences; Localization; Nucleotide sequence; Original Article; Phylogeny; Plant Biochemistry; Plant growth; Plant Sciences; Proteins; Regulatory mechanisms (biology); Serine; Sodium chloride; Structural analysis; Transcription factors; 농학; Sweetpotato; Salt stress; WRKY transcription factor; Transcriptome
• ISSN: 1863-5466; 1863-5474
• DOI: 10.1007/s11816-020-00635-4

WRKY transcription factors play a key role in regulating plant growth, development, and stress responses. Although many WRKY transcription factors have been discovered in plants, the WRKY transcription factors in sweetpotato have not been systematically studied. Here, we identified 79 IbWRKY transcription factors based on the transcriptome data of sweetpotato. The amino acid length of the protein ranged from 162 to 711 amino acids. Frequency analysis of amino acids in IbWRKY transcription factors found highest levels of serine. Subcellular localization analysis found 77 IbWRKY proteins localized in the nucleus. The IbWRKY proteins were clustered into three groups based on their structural and phylogenetic characteristics. Seven WRKY proteins contained the WRKY domain variations WRKYG(K/T)K as revealed by multiple sequence alignment. Structural analysis showed that IbWRKY proteins of the same subfamily had similar motifs. Transcriptome data analysis found that a total of 35 IbWRKY genes showed significant changes of the expression level after the 150 mM NaCl treatment. We selected 16 IbWRKY genes for real-time quantitative PCR verification and found that the data were consistent with the transcriptome data. In summary, this study provides a systematical analysis of the IbWRKY transcription factors, which will lay a solid foundation for further characterization of the regulatory mechanism of the IbWRKY genes under salt stress in sweetpotato.