Genome-wide organization and expression profiling of the R2R3-MYB transcription factor family in sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.)
Abstract
Abstract Background MYB transcription factor family involved in multifarious stages of plant growth and development until death, which is one of the largest and most versatile gene families in plants, therefore it is an important regulatory factor in plants. Sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) is rich in many secondary metabolites and has high nutritional and medicinal value. With the completion of sea buckthorn genome sequencing, it has laid the foundation for us to explore the gene structure, evolutionary relationship and function prediction of sea buckthorn MYB gene family from the whole genome perspective. Results In this study, 161 R2R3-MYB genes were identified from the sea buckthorn genome. We systematically analyzed their gene structure, collinearity, phylogenetic relationships and expression pattern. According to the gene structure, conserved motifs and phylogenetic relationship of 161 HrMYB genes, all the HrMYB genes were divided into 28 subgroups. The phylogenetic tree of Hippophae rhamnoides L. and Arabidopsis thaliana R2R3-MYB genes showed that the sea buckthorn MYB gene family showed functional differentiation during evolution. Chromosomal localization results showed that the distribution of HrMYB genes were random. RNA-seq data from seven different tissues indicated that the HrMYB genes have significant spatiotemporal and tissue expression differences. QRT-PCR analysis showed that the selected genes which relate to flavonoid biosynthesis of sea buckthorn fruit expressed different degrees in different developmental stages of the fruit. Conclusion The sea buckthorn R2R3-MYB gene family was successfully identified from the whole genome sequence by a series of bioinformatics methods. The results firstly provide a more comprehensive insight for the phylogenetic relationships and expression patterns of the HrMYB genes. It will help us to further study their specific functions in the growth and development of sea buckthorn.