Systematic identification and expression analysis of bHLH gene family reveal their relevance to abiotic stress response and anthocyanin biosynthesis in sweetpotato

BACKGROUND

bHLH transcription factors play significant roles in regulating plant growth and development, stress response, and anthocyanin biosynthesis. Sweetpotato is a pivotal food and industry crop, but little information is available on sweetpotato bHLH genes.

RESULTS

Herein, 227 putative IbbHLH genes were defined on sweetpotato chromosomes, and fragment duplications were identified as the dominant driving force for IbbHLH expansion. These IbbHLHs were divided into 26 subfamilies through phylogenetic analysis, as supported by further analysis of exon-intron structure and conserved motif composition. The syntenic analysis between IbbHLHs and their orthologs from other plants depicted evolutionary relationships of IbbHLHs. Based on the transcriptome data under salt stress, the expression of 12 IbbHLHs was screened for validation by qRT-PCR, and differential and significant transcriptions under abiotic stress were detected. Moreover, IbbHLH123 and IbbHLH215, which were remarkably upregulated by stress treatments, had obvious transactivation activity in yeasts. Protein interaction detections and yeast two-hybrid assays suggested an intricate interaction correlation between IbbHLHs. Besides, transcriptome screening revealed that multiple IbbHLHs may be closely related to anthocyanin biosynthesis based on the phenotype (purple vs. white tissues), which was confirmed by subsequent qRT-PCR analysis.

CONCLUSIONS

These results shed light on the promising functions of sweetpotato IbbHLHs in abiotic stress response and anthocyanin biosynthesis.

A systematical genome-wide analysis and screening of WRKY transcription factor family engaged in abiotic stress response in sweetpotato

BACKGROUND

WRKY transcription factors play pivotal roles in regulating plant multiple abiotic stress tolerance, however, a genome-wide systematical analysis of WRKY genes in sweetpotato is still missing.

RESULTS

Herein, 84 putative IbWRKYs with WRKY element sequence variants were identified in sweetpotato reference genomes. Fragment duplications, rather than tandem duplications, were shown to play prominent roles in IbWRKY gene expansion. The collinearity analysis between IbWRKYs and the related orthologs from other plants further depicted evolutionary insights into IbWRKYs. Phylogenetic relationships displayed that IbWRKYs were divided into three main groups (I, II and III), with the support of the characteristics of exon-intron structures and conserved protein motifs. The IbWRKY genes, mainly from the group Ib, displayed remarkable and diverse expression profiles under multiple abiotic stress (NaCl, PEG6000, cold and heat) and hormone (ABA, ACC, JA and SA) treatments, which were determined by RNA-seq and qRT-PCR assays, suggesting their potential roles in mediating particular stress responses. Moreover, IbWRKY58L could interact with IbWRKY82 as revealed by yeast two-hybrid based on the protein interaction network screening. And abiotic stress-remarkably induced IbWRKY21L and IbWRKY51 were shown to be localized in the nucleus and had no transactivation activities.

CONCLUSION

These results provide valuable insights into sweetpotato IbWRKYs and will lay a foundation for further exploring functions and possible regulatory mechanisms of IbWRKYs in abiotic stress tolerance.

SNHG5/miR-582-5p/RUNX3 feedback loop regulates osteogenic differentiation and apoptosis of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells

Osteoporosis is one of the most prevailing orthopedic diseases that causes a heavy burden on public health. Given that bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) are of immense importance in osteoporosis development, it is necessary to expound the mechanisms underlying BMSC osteoblastic differentiation. Although mounting research works have investigated the role of small nucleolar RNA host gene 5 (SNHG5) in various diseases, elucidations on its function in osteoporosis are still scarce. It was observed that SNHG5 and RUNX family transcription factor 3 (RUNX3) were remarkably elevated during osteogenic differentiation of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (hBMSCs). Further, we disclosed that the silencing of SNHG5 suppressed osteogenic differentiation and induced apoptosis of hBMSCs. What's more, SNHG5 acted as a competing endogenous RNA to affect RUNX3 expression via competitively binding with microRNA (miR)-582-5p. RUNX3 was also confirmed to simulate the transcriptional activation of SNHG5. Finally, our findings manifested that the positive feedback loop of SNHG5/miR-582-5p/RUNX3 executed the promoting role in the development of osteoporosis, which shed light on specific molecular mechanism governing SNHG5 in osteogenic differentiation and apoptosis of hBMSCs and indicated that SNHG5 may represent a novel target for the improvement of osteoporosis therapy.