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Dissection of valine-glutamine genes and their responses to drought stress in Arachis hypogaea cv. Tifrunner

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Abstract

Valine-glutamine sequences (VQs) interact with WRKY transcription factors (TFs), forming VQ-WRKY protein complexes crucial for plant development and response to environmental changes. Cultivated peanut (Arachis hypogaea) is a tetraploid from A. duranensis and A. ipaensis cross. The Arachis spp. WRKY TFs have been identified, but Arachis VQs are largely unknown. This study identified VQs in A. duranensis, A. ipaensis, A. monticola, A. hypogaea cv. Fuhuasheng, A. hypogaea cv. Shitouqi, and A. hypogaea cv. Tifrunner. The study analyzed the homologous relationships between VQs in these Arachis spp. The VQ drought-tolerant genes were detected and VQ-WRKY interactions were determined in A. hypogaea cv. Tifrunner. The results showed that tetraploid Arachis spp. retained duplicated VQs, but lost ancestral VQs after allopolyploidization. The number of VQs in A. monticola, A. hypogaea cv. Fuhuasheng, and A. hypogaea cv. Shitouqi increased relative to their diploid ancestors. RNA-seq and quantitative real-time PCR experiments confirmed that three AhTVQs tolerate drought stress in A. hypogaea cv. Tifrunner. However, evidence of VQ-WRKY interaction for drought stress response is lacking in A. hypogaea cv. Tifrunner. Nevertheless, this study identified VQ-WRKY interactions, which possibly have multiple functions in A. hypogaea cv. Tifrunner. Altogether, this study dissected Arachis VQs, providing insights into Arachis VQ evolution and drought function.

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Funding

This study was funded by the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province, China (ZR2019QC017), Start-up Foundation for High Talents of Qingdao Agricultural University (No. 665/1120012), the first Class Grassland Science Discipline Program of Shandong Province, China, and Shandong Modern Agricultural Industrial and Technical System (SDAIT-23-01).

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  1. Grassland Agri-husbandry Research Center, College of Grassland Science, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, China

    Tian Zhang, Zicheng Wang, Yongli Zhang, Guofeng Yang & Hui Song

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  1. Tian Zhang
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  2. Zicheng Wang
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  3. Yongli Zhang
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  4. Guofeng Yang
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  5. Hui Song
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Contributions

H. S. conceived and designed this research, and wrote the manuscript. T. Z. analyzed data and wrote the manuscript. Z. W. and Y. Z. analyzed data. G. Y. evaluated the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Hui Song.

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Supplementary information

Table S1

The VQs primers for quantitative real-time PCR. The primers are designed using Beacon Designer 8 software. (XLSX 9 kb)

Table S2

The chromosomal location, molecular weight, isoelectric point, and subcellular localization of VQs in Arachi duranensis, A. ipaensis, A. monticola, A. hypogaea cv. Fuhuasheng, A. hypogaea cv. Shitouqi, and A. hypogaea cv. Tifrunner. (XLSX 25 kb)

Table S3

The homologous VQs between Arabidopsis thaliana and Arachis hypogaea cv. Tifrunner. The homologous relation is constructed using the STRING web-server (V11.5). (XLSX 9 kb)

Table S4

The protein-protein interaction between VQ and WRKY in Arachis hypogaea cv. Tifrunner based on Arabidopsis sequences. (XLSX 20 kb)

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Zhang, T., Wang, Z., Zhang, Y. et al. Dissection of valine-glutamine genes and their responses to drought stress in Arachis hypogaea cv. Tifrunner. Funct Integr Genomics 22, 491–501 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10142-022-00847-7

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