Journal Article

Identification and characterization of NF-Y transcription factor families in Canola (Brassica napus L.)

Zhao, Gengmao, Lin, Zhongyuan, Zheng, Qingsong, Yin, Xiangzhen, Liang, Mingxiang, Liu, Guohong

2014

Overview

NF-Y (NUCLEAR FACTOR-Y), a heterotrimeric transcription factor, is composed of NF-YA, NF-YB, and NF-YC proteins in yeast, animal, and plant systems. In plants, each of the NF-YA/B/C subunit forms a multi-member family. NF-Ys are key regulators with important roles in many physiological processes, such as drought tolerance, flowering time, and seed development. In this study, we identified, annotated, and further characterized 14 NF-YA, 14 NF-YB, and 5 NF-YC proteins in Brassica napus (canola). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the NF-YA/B/C subunits were more closely clustered with the Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) homologs than with rice OsHAP2/3/5 subunits. Analyses of the conserved domain indicated that the BnNF-YA/B/C subfamilies, respectively, shared the same conserved domains with those in other organisms, including Homo sapiens, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Arabidopsis, and Oryza sativa (rice). An examination of exon/intron structures revealed that most gene structures of BnNF-Y were similar to their homologs in Arabidopsis, a model dicot plant, but different from those in the model monocot plant rice, suggesting that plant NF-Ys diverged before monocot and dicot plants differentiated. Spatial-tempo expression patterns, as determined by qRT-PCR, showed that most BnNF-Ys were widely expressed in different tissues throughout the canola life cycle and that several closely related BnNF-Y subunits had similar expression profiles. Based on these findings, we predict that BnNF-Y proteins have functions that are conserved in the homologous proteins in other plants. This study provides the first extensive evaluation of the BnNF-Y family, and provides a useful foundation for dissecting the functions of BnNF-Y.

• Publisher: Springer-Verlag,Springer Berlin Heidelberg,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Agriculture / Amino Acid Sequence / Amino acids / Arabidopsis / Arabidopsis - genetics / Arabidopsis thaliana / Biomedical and Life Sciences / Brassica napus / Brassica napus - genetics / Canola / CCAAT-Binding Factor / CCAAT-Binding Factor - genetics / CCAAT-Binding Factor - metabolism / Conserved Sequence / DNA / Drought resistance / drought tolerance / Ecology / Exons / Flowering / Forestry / Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Gene structures / Genes / genetics / humans / Introns / Life Sciences / metabolism / Multigene Family / Original Article / Oryza sativa / Phylogeny / Plant Proteins / Plant Proteins - genetics / Plant Proteins - metabolism / Plant roots / Plant Sciences / Plants / Protein Structure, Tertiary / Protein Subunits / Proteins / Rice / Saccharomyces cerevisiae / seed development / Transcription factors / Yeasts