Expression patterns of the poplar NF-Y gene family in response to Alternaria alternata and hormone treatment and the role of PdbNF-YA11 in disease resistance

• Published in: Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology
• Main Authors: Huang, Ying, Ma, Huijun, Wang, Xiaodong, Cui, Tianxiang, Han, Gang, Zhang, Yu, Wang, Chao
• Other Authors: National Natural Science Foundation of China
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Frontiers Media SA 2022
• Subjects: Orca
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2022.956271; https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2022.956271/full

Plant nuclear factor-Y (NF-Y) transcription factors (TFs) are key regulators of growth and stress resistance. However, the role of NF-Y TFs in poplar in response to biotic stress is still unclear. In this study, we cloned 26 PdbNF-Y encoding genes in the hybrid poplar P. davidiana × P. bollena , including 12 PdbNF-YA s, six PdbNF-YB s, and eight PdbNF-YC s. Their physical and chemical parameters, conserved domains, and phylogeny were subsequently analyzed. The protein–protein interaction (PPI) network showed that the three PdbNF-Y subunits may interact with NF-Y proteins belonging to two other subfamilies and other TFs. Tissue expression analysis revealed that PdbNF-Y s exhibited three distinct expression patterns in three tissues. Cis-elements related to stress-responsiveness were found in the promoters of PdbNF-Y s, and most PdbNF-Y s were shown to be differentially expressed under Alternaria alternata and hormone treatments. Compared with the PdbNF-YB and PdbNF-YC subfamilies, more PdbNF-YA s were significantly induced under the two treatments. Moreover, loss- and gain-of-function analyses showed that PdbNF-YA11 plays a positive role in poplar resistance to A. alternata . Additionally, RT‒qPCR analyses showed that overexpression and silencing PdbNF-YA11 altered the transcript levels of JA-related genes, including LOX , AOS , AOC , COI , JAZ , ORCA , and MYC , suggesting that PdbNF-YA11 -mediated disease resistance is related to activation of the JA pathway. Our findings will contribute to functional analysis of NF-Y genes in woody plants, especially their roles in response to biotic stress.