Genome-Wide Characterization of <i>Chrysanthemum indicum Nuclear Factor Y, Subunit C</i> Gene Family Reveals the Roles of <i>CiNF-YCs</i> in Flowering Regulation
Nuclear Factor Y, Subunit C (NF-YC) transcription factors are conserved in most plants, and play essential roles in plant growth and development, especially in flowering regulation. Chrysanthemums are important commercial plants, and their market value is strongly impacted by flowering time. Until n...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2022-10-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Molecular Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/23/21/12812 |
| Summary: | Nuclear Factor Y, Subunit C (NF-YC) transcription factors are conserved in most plants, and play essential roles in plant growth and development, especially in flowering regulation. Chrysanthemums are important commercial plants, and their market value is strongly impacted by flowering time. Until now, no details regarding the NF-YC family in the <i>Chrysanthemum</i> genus have been available. In this study, five <i>NF-YC</i> genes were cloned from <i>Chrysanthemum indicum</i>. Multiple alignments showed that CiNF-YCs had the highly conserved characteristic regions. Phylogenetic analyses identified a pair of paralogue NF-YC proteins in chrysanthemums. Gene structure and conserved motifs were also analyzed for functional understanding. According to the results of the expression experiments, <i>CiNF-YC1</i> and <i>CiNF-YC5</i> were mainly expressed in leaves or flowers, and their expression levels varied greatly from the seedling to flower bud differentiation stage. <i>Arabidopsis</i> overexpressing <i>CiNF-YC1</i> and <i>CiNF-YC3</i> showed significantly delayed flowering, accompanied by other morphological alterations. RT-qPCR analysis revealed that genes associated with photoperiod, vernalization, aging, and gibberellin pathways were downregulated in <i>CiNF-YC1</i>-OX lines, relative to the wild type, whereas in <i>CiNF-YC3</i>-OX lines, only <i>SHORT VEGETATIVE PHASE</i> (<i>AtSVP</i>)<i>,</i> the key factor in the ambient temperature pathway, was upregulated. Taken together, these findings suggest that <i>CiNF-YC1</i> and <i>CiNF-YC3</i> negatively regulate flowering in <i>Arabidopsis</i> via different flowering pathways. |
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| ISSN: | 1661-6596 1422-0067 |