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.

中文翻译：

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甘薯（Ipomoea batatas L.）盐胁迫下WRKY转录因子的转录组鉴定及其表达谱。

WRKY转录因子在调节植物生长，发育和胁迫反应中起关键作用。尽管在植物中发现了许多WRKY转录因子，但尚未对甘薯中的WRKY转录因子进行系统的研究。在这里，我们根据甘薯的转录组数据确定了79个IbWRKY转录因子。该蛋白质的氨基酸长度范围为162至711个氨基酸。对IbWRKY转录因子中氨基酸的频率分析发现，丝氨酸水平最高。亚细胞定位分析发现77 IbWRKY蛋白位于细胞核中。根据IbWRKY的结构和系统发育特征，将其分为三类。七个WRKY蛋白包含WRKY域变异WRKYG（K / T）K，如多重序列比对所揭示。结构分析表明，同一亚科的IbWRKY蛋白具有相似的基序。转录组数据分析发现总共35在150 mM NaCl处理后，IbWRKY基因显示出表达水平的显着变化。我们选择了16个IbWRKY基因进行实时定量PCR验证，发现数据与转录组数据一致。总之，本研究提供了对IbWRKY转录因子的系统分析，这将为进一步表征盐胁迫下甘薯中IbWRKY基因的调控机制奠定坚实的基础。