The Mulberry <i>SPL</i> Gene Family and the Response of <i>MnSPL7</i> to Silkworm Herbivory through Activating the Transcription of <i>MnTT2L2</i> in the Catechin Biosynthesis Pathway

The Mulberry <i>SPL</i> Gene Family and the Response of <i>MnSPL7</i> to Silkworm Herbivory through Activating the Transcription of <i>MnTT2L2</i> in the Catechin Biosynthesis Pathway

<i>SQUAMOSA PROMOTER BINDING PROTEIN-LIKE</i> (<i>SPL</i>) genes, as unique plant transcription factors, play important roles in plant developmental regulation and stress response adaptation. Although mulberry is a commercially valuable tree species, there have been few syste...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hongshun Li, Bi Ma, Yiwei Luo, Wuqi Wei, Jianglian Yuan, Changxin Zhai, Ningjia He
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2022-01-01
Series:International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Subjects:
mulberry
<i>SPL</i>s
phylogenetic analysis
silkworm herbivory
<i>MnSPL7</i>/<i>MnTT2L2</i> module
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/23/3/1141
Description
Summary:<i>SQUAMOSA PROMOTER BINDING PROTEIN-LIKE</i> (<i>SPL</i>) genes, as unique plant transcription factors, play important roles in plant developmental regulation and stress response adaptation. Although mulberry is a commercially valuable tree species, there have been few systematic studies on <i>SPL</i> genes. In this work, we identified 15 full-length <i>SPL</i> genes in the mulberry genome, which were distributed on 4 <i>Morus notabilis</i> chromosomes. Phylogenetic analysis clustered the <i>SPL</i> genes from five plants (<i>Malus × domestica Borkh</i>, <i>Populus trichocarpa</i>, <i>M. notabilis</i>, <i>Arabidopsis thaliana</i>, and <i>Oryza sativa</i>) into five groups. Two zinc fingers (Zn1 and Zn2) were found in the conserved SBP domain in all of the <i>MnSPL</i>s. Comparative analyses of gene structures and conserved motifs revealed the conservation of <i>MnSPLs</i> within a group, whereas there were significant structure differences among groups. Gene quantitative analysis showed that the expression of <i>MnSPLs</i> had tissue specificity, and <i>MnSPLs</i> had much higher expression levels in older mulberry leaves. Furthermore, transcriptome data showed that the expression levels of <i>MnSPL7</i> and <i>MnSPL14</i> were significantly increased under silkworm herbivory. Molecular experiments revealed that <i>MnSPL7</i> responded to herbivory treatment through promoting the transcription of <i>MnTT2L2</i> and further upregulating the expression levels of catechin synthesis genes (<i>F3′H</i>, <i>DFR</i>, and <i>LAR</i>).
ISSN:1661-6596
1422-0067

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