Identification, Expression, and Functional Study of Seven NAC Transcription Factor Genes Involved in Stress Response in Tartary Buckwheat (<i>Fagopyrum tataricum</i> (L.) Gaertn.)

oleh: Juan Huang, Rongrong Ren, Yuping Rong, Bin Tang, Jiao Deng, Qingfu Chen, Taoxiong Shi

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2022-03-01

Deskripsi

Plant NAC transcription factors play vital roles in diverse biological processes, especially in response to stress. However, only a limited number of the FtNAC genes have been cloned and functionally analyzed in Tartary buckwheat (<i>Fagopyrum tataricum</i> (L.) Gaertn.), which is a coarse grain crop that is highly resistant to abiotic stress. Here, we identified seven Tartary buckwheat FtNAC genes, namely <i>FtNAC11</i>, <i>FtNAC12</i>, <i>FtNAC26</i>, <i>FtNAC28</i>, <i>FtNAC65</i>, <i>FtNAC70</i>, and <i>FtNAC78</i>. Multiple-sequence alignments revealed that all of them contained the conserved NAM domain, which consisted of the A, B, C, D, and E subdomains. Seven NAC proteins were classified into six subgroups based on phylogenetic analyses. Cis-acting regulatory elements analyses (CARE) indicated that there were numerous CAREs related to biotic and abiotic responses and hormone responses in the promoters of FtNAC genes. qRT-PCR showed that they were tissue-specifically expressed and could be induced by four out of six treatments, namely PEG, NaCl, cold, MeJA, ABA, and GA, implying that they were abiotic and hormone responsive. Among these, <i>FtNAC70</i> was the most strongly induced gene and could be induced by all six treatments. Meanwhile, <i>FtNAC70</i>-overexpressed <i>Arabidopsis</i> showed more resistance to salt and drought. The identification, phylogenetics, expression, and functional study of seven stress-responsive FtNAC genes laid a foundation for further research on the molecular mechanism of abiotic stress regulated by NAC TFs in Tartary buckwheat.