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Genome-wide identification and expression analysis of the bHLH gene family in cauliflower (Brassica oleracea L.)

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Abstract

Basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors (TFs) are one of the largest TF families in plant species, and they play important roles in plant growth, development and stress responses. The present study systematically identified members of the cauliflower (Brassica oleracea L.) bHLH gene family based on genomic data. Analysis of bHLH family gene numbers, evolution, collinearity, gene structures and motifs indicated that cauliflower contained 256 bHLH family genes distributed on 10 chromosomes. Most of these genes have been localized in the nucleus, and they were divided into 18 subgroups which have been relatively conserved during evolution. Promoter analysis showed that most cis-acting elements were related to MeJA and ABA. Expression analysis suggested that 14 bHLH genes may be involved in the transformation of cauliflower curd from white to purple. An expression analysis of these 14 genes in FQ136 material was performed using qRT–PCR, and 9 bHLH genes (BobHLH1, 14, 58, 61, 63, 84, 231, 239 and 243) showed significantly increased or decreased expression in cauliflower from white to purple, which suggests that these 9 genes play important roles in the accumulation of anthocyanins in cauliflower. The coexpression network of these 9 genes and anthocyanin synthesis-related key genes was analyzed using weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA). In conclusion, our observations suggested that the bHLH gene family plays an important role in the accumulation of anthocyanins in cauliflower and provide an important theoretical basis for further research on the functions of the bHLH gene family and the molecular mechanism of cauliflower coloration.

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Acknowledgements

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Funding

This work was mainly supported by grants from China Agriculture Research System of MOF and MARA: the Modern Agro-Industry Technology Research System, China (CARS-23-A-07), Innovative Research and Experimental Projects for Young Researchers of Tianjin Academy of Agricultural Science (2021012) and The 131 innovative team construction project of Tianjin (201923).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tianjin Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Tianjin, 300192, China

    Hanmin Jiang, Lili Liu, Xiaozheng Shan, Xingwei Yao & Deling Sun

  2. Vegetable Research Institute of Tianjin Kernel Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd, Tianjin, 300384, China

    Hanmin Jiang, Zhenghua Wen, Xiaoli Zhang, Guobao Niu & Deling Sun

  3. The State Key Laboratory of Vegetable Germplasm Innovation, Tianjin, 300384, China

    Hanmin Jiang, Lili Liu, Xiaozheng Shan, Zhenghua Wen, Xiaoli Zhang, Xingwei Yao, Guobao Niu & Deling Sun

  4. The Tianjin Key Laboratory of Vegetable Genetics and Breeding, Tianjin, 300384, China

    Hanmin Jiang, Lili Liu, Xiaozheng Shan, Zhenghua Wen, Xiaoli Zhang, Xingwei Yao, Guobao Niu & Deling Sun

  5. State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, College of Pharmacy and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Molecular Drug Research, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300350, China

    Hanmin Jiang & Changliang Shan

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  1. Hanmin Jiang
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Contributions

HJ, LL, XS, ZW, CS and DS carried out the bioinformatics analysis,design, and drafted the manuscript. HJ, XZ, XY and GN performed quantitative expression analysis. CS and DS participated in supervision of the study. All the authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Changliang Shan or Deling Sun.

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The authors declare there are no competing interests.

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The cultivar FQ136 was collected from Tianjin Province in China by Tianjin Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Collection and research of this cultivar have complied with the Convention on the institutional, national, international guidelines and Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

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Jiang, H., Liu, L., Shan, X. et al. Genome-wide identification and expression analysis of the bHLH gene family in cauliflower (Brassica oleracea L.). Physiol Mol Biol Plants 28, 1737–1751 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12298-022-01238-9

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