Cuicui Wu

The lateral organ boundaries domain (LBD) genes, as the plant-specific transcription factor family, play a crucial role in controlling plant architecture and stress tolerance. However, the functions of AhLBD genes in the peanut plant (Arachis hypogea L.) remain unclear. In this study, 73 AhLBDs were identified in the peanut plant and divided into three groups by phylogenetic tree analysis. Gene structure and conserved protein motif analysis supported the evolutionary conservation of AhLBDs. Tandem and segment duplications contributed to the expansion of AhLBDs. The evolutionary relationship analysis of LBD gene family between A. hypogaea and four other species indicated that the peanut plant had a close relationship with the soybean plant. AhLBDs played a very important role in response to growth and development as well as abiotic stress. Furthermore, gene expression profiling and real-time quantitative qRT-PCR analysis showed that AhLBD16, AhLBD33, AhLBD67, and AhLBD72 were candidate genes for salt stress, while AhLBD24, AhLBD33, AhLBD35, AhLBD52, AhLBD67, and AhLBD71 were candidate genes for drought stress. Our subcellular localization experiment revealed that AhLBD24, AhLBD33, AhLBD67, and AhLBD71 were located in the nucleus. Heterologous overexpression of AhLBD33 and AhLBD67 in Arabidopsis significantly enhanced tolerance to salt stress. Our results provide a theoretical basis and candidate genes for studying the molecular mechanism for abiotic stress in the peanut plant.

Caffeic acid O-methyltransferases (COMTs) play an essential role in lignin synthesis procession, especially in the plant’s phenylalanine metabolic pathway. The content of COMT genes in cotton and the relationship between their expression patterns have not been studied clearly in cotton. In this study, we have identified 190 COMT genes in cotton, which were classified into three groups (I, II and III), and mapped on the cotton chromosomes. In addition, we found that 135 of the 190 COMT genes result from dispersed duplication (DSD) and whole-genome duplication (WGD), indicating that DSD and WGD were the main forces driving COMT gene expansion. The Ka/Ks analysis showed that GhCOMT43 and GhCOMT41 evolved from GaCOMT27 and GrCOMT14 through positive selection. The results of qRT-PCR showed that GhCOMT13, GhCOMT28, GhCOMT39 and GhCOMT55 were related to lignin content during the cotton fiber development. GhCOMT28, GhCOMT39, GhCOMT55, GhCOMT56 and GhCOMT57 responded to Verticillium Wilt (VW) and maybe related to VW resistance through lignin synthesis. Conclusively, this study found that GhCOMTs were highly expressed in the secondary wall thickening stage and VW. These results provide a clue for studying the functions of GhCOMTs in the development of cotton fiber and VW resistance and could lay a foundation for breeding cotton cultivates with higher quantity and high resistance to VW.