Min Wang^1,2 , Jinxiu Chen¹ , Xiang Tai¹ , Xiaowei Zhu¹ , Cancan Zhu² , Tianyue Bo¹

1 Horticulture Research Institute, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai, 201403, China
2 Institute of Botany, Jiangsu Province and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210014, China
Author    Correspondence author
Molecular Plant Breeding, 2023, Vol. 14, No. 11   doi: 10.5376/mpb.2023.14.0011
Received: 21 Apr., 2023    Accepted: 25 May, 2023    Published: 05 Jun., 2023

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Wang M., Chen J.X., Tai X., Zhu X.W., Zhu C.C., and Bo T.Y., 2023, Identification and expression profiles of the WRKY gene family in pecan (Carya illinoinensis), Molecular Plant Breeding, 14(11): 1-14 (doi: 10.5376/mpb.2023.14.0011)

WRKY gene family encodes a large transcription factor family that play critical roles in various physiological processes. However, a systematic analysis of the WRKY transcription factor family has not been reported in pecan (Carya illinoinensis). In this study, a total of 89 putative pecan WRKY genes (CiWRKYs), named CiWRKY1-89, were identified from the whole genome of pecan. Most of WRKY domain sequences in CiWRKY proteins were “WRKYGQK”, but there were “WRKYGKK” in CiWRKY19, CiWRKY27 and CiWRKY88, and “WKKYGQK” in CiWRKY85. All CiWRKYs were unevenly distributed on 16 chromosomes, the largest number of genes on chromosome 3. Based on phylogenetic analysis, the 89 putative CiWRKYs could be classified into three major groups. The CiWRKY genes shared similar exon-intron distribution, and conserved motifs within the same subgroups. Expression profiles indicated that CiWRKY16, CiWRKY30, CiWRKY42, CiWRKY62, and CiWRKY69 genes were involved in flower differentiation and development, and majority of CiWRKYs genes were differentially expressed during embryo development. The present study provides reference for further comparative genomics and functional studies of this important class of transcriptional regulators in pecan.

Pecan (Carya illinoensis); WRKY transcription factor; Phylogenetics; Gene expression