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Identification of thioredoxin genes and analysis of their expression under abiotic stresses in Medicago truncatula

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Abstract

Thioredoxin (Trx) is a ubiquitous heat-stable protein that acts as an electron donor in many reduction reactions and is expressed in all organisms. In this study, the Trxs were searched from the whole genome of Medicago truncatula. As a result, 46 MtTrx genes were found and grouped into four groups by phylogenetic analysis. Chromosomal location and synteny analyses have suggested that both fragmental and tandem duplication contribute to MtTrx gene expansion. Tissue expression analysis has shown that several MtTrx genes may play vital functions in specific tissues, e.g., MtTrx30, MtTrx33 and MtTrx39. Moreover, the expression profiles of MtTrx genes under stresses revealed that 21, 27, and 29 MtTrxs were regulated by cold, drought and salt, respectively, and 11 of these genes responded to all stresses mentioned above (MtTrx3, 13, 17, 18, 22, 24, 25, 31, 32, 33, and 39). Combined with the results of promoter analysis, multiple MtTrx genes were deduced to participate in abiotic stress responses. Results from this study will inspire the future research on functional analysis of MtTrx genes, especially their roles in response to abiotic stress.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 32060069), and the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province (No. 20202BABL205023 and No. 20212ACB215004).

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Author notes

  1. Liugen Xu, Yong Zhou and Jie Cheng contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Bioscience and Bioengineering, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, 330045, People’s Republic of China

    Liugen Xu, Yong Zhou, Jie Cheng, Liqing Kang, Yuqi Qiang & Jianbo Song

  2. College of Life Science, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, 450002, People’s Republic of China

    Hua Li

  3. College of Science, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, 330045, People’s Republic of China

    Yihua Wang

  4. Yichun Agricultural Science Research Institute, Yichun, 336400, People’s Republic of China

    Xuemei Yan & Yuhua Yan

  5. Institute of Molecular Physiology, Shenzhen Bay Laboratory, Shenzhen, 518107, People’s Republic of China

    Ying Tang

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  1. Liugen Xu
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Xu, L., Zhou, Y., Cheng, J. et al. Identification of thioredoxin genes and analysis of their expression under abiotic stresses in Medicago truncatula. Acta Physiol Plant 44, 120 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-022-03459-7

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