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Genome-wide identification and expression analysis of bZIP transcription factors in oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) under abiotic stress

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Abstract

The bZIP transcription factors are well-known transcription regulators and play a key role in regulating various developmental, biological processes, and stress responses in plants. However, information on bZIP transcription factors is not yet available in oil palm, an important oil yielding crop. The present study identified the 97 bZIP transcription factor family members in oil palm genome via a genome-wide approach. Phylogenetic analysis clustered all EgbZIPs into 12 clusters with Arabidopsis and rice bZIPs. EgbZIP gene structure analysis showed a distinct variation in the intron–exon organization among all EgbZIPs. Conserved motif analysis demonstrated the occurrence of ten additional conserved motifs besides having a common bZIP domain. All the identified 97 EgbZIPs were unevenly distributed on 16 chromosomes and exhibited tandem duplication in oil palm genome. Our results aslo demonstrated that tissue-specific expression patterns of EgbZIPs based on the available transcriptome data of six different tissue of oil palm. Stress-responsive expression analysis showed that 11EgbZIP transcription factors were highly expressed under cold, salinity, drought stress conditions. Taken together, our findings will provide insightful information on bZIP transcription factors as one of the stress-responsive regulators in oil palm.

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All data and materials used in this research are publicly available. Other supporting data are provided as supplementary files with the manuscript.

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Abbreviations

NLS:

Nuclear localization signal

UTR:

Untranslated region

MEME:

Multiple expectation maximization for motif elucidation

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Funding

This research project was financially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China project (No. 31870670) and Central public-interest scientific institution basal research fund for the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (No. 1630152017008).

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  1. Lixia Zhou and Rajesh Yarra contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Coconut Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences/Hainan Key Laboratory of Tropical Oil Crops Biology, Wenchang, Hainan, 571339, People’s Republic of China

    Lixia Zhou & Rajesh Yarra

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  1. Lixia Zhou
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  2. Rajesh Yarra
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Contributions

LZ and RY conceived and designed the experiments. LZ and RY performed the experiments; LZ and RY validated the data; LZ and RY performed the formal analysis; RY participated in original draft preparation; LZ supervised the research.

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Correspondence to Lixia Zhou.

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Key message: A total of 97bZIP transcription factors were identified and explored their role in abiotic stress responses in oil palm

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Zhou, L., Yarra, R. Genome-wide identification and expression analysis of bZIP transcription factors in oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) under abiotic stress. Protoplasma 259, 469–483 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00709-021-01666-6

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