| Summary: | <i>Capsicum baccatum</i> is a close relative of edible chili peppers (<i>Capsicum annuum</i>) with high economic value. The <i>CBF</i> gene family plays an important role in plant stress resistance physiology. We detected a total of five <i>CBF</i> genes in the <i>C. baccatum</i> genome-wide sequencing data. These genes were scattered irregularly across four chromosomes. The genes were categorized into three groupings according to their evolutionary relationships, with genes in the same category showing comparable principles for motif composition. The 2000 bp upstream of <i>CbCBF</i> contains many resistance-responsive elements, hormone-responsive elements, and transcription factor binding sites. These findings emphasize the crucial functions of these genes in responding to challenging conditions and physiological regulation. Analysis of tissue-specific expression revealed that <i>CbCBF3</i> exhibited the greatest level of expression among all tissues. Under conditions of low-temperature stress, all <i>CbCBF</i> genes exhibited different levels of responsiveness, with <i>CbCBF3</i> showing a considerable up-regulation after 0.25 h of cold stress, indicating a high sensitivity to low-temperature response. The importance of the <i>CbCBF3</i> gene in the cold response of <i>C. baccatum</i> was confirmed by the use of virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) technology, as well as the prediction of its protein interaction network. To summarize, this study conducts a thorough bioinformatics investigation of the <i>CbCBF</i> gene family, showcases the practicality of employing VIGS technology in <i>C. baccatum</i>, and confirms the significance of the <i>CbCBF3</i> gene in response to low temperatures. These findings provide significant references for future research on the adaptation of <i>C. baccatum</i> to low temperatures.
|
|---|