Genome-wide identification and expression analysis of the NAC transcription factor family in Saccharum spontaneum under different stresses

ABSTRACT

The NAC (NAM, ATAF1/2, and CUC2) transcription factor family is one of the largest families unique to plants and is involved in plant growth and development, organs, morphogenesis, and stress responses. The NAC family has been identified in many plants. As the main source of resistance genes for sugarcane breeding, the NAC gene family in the wild species Saccharum spontaneum has not been systematically studied. In this study, 115 SsNAC genes were identified in the S. spontaneum genome, and these genes were heterogeneously distributed on 25 chromosomes. Phylogenetic analysis divided the SsNAC family members into 18 subgroups, and the gene structure and conserved motif analysis further supported the phylogenetic classification. Four groups of tandemly duplicated genes and nine pairs of segmentally duplicated genes were detected. The SsNAC gene has different expression patterns at different developmental stages of stems and leaves. Further qRT–PCR analysis showed that drought, low-temperature, salinity, pathogenic fungi, and other stresses as well as abscisic acid (ABA) and methyl jasmonate (MeJA) treatments significantly induced the expression of 12 SsNAC genes, indicating that these genes may play a key role in the resistance of S. spontaneum to biotic and abiotic stresses. In summary, the results from this study provide comprehensive information on the NAC transcription factor family, providing a reference for further functional studies of the SsNAC gene.

KEYWORDS:

• Sugarcane
• NAC gene
• transcription factor
• stress

Author contribution statement

QQS and FSL conceived and designed the experiments. QQS, XTZ, and SJG performed the bioinformatic analysis and data processing. XBR, RQZ, and SZL performed the stress tolerance assays and qRT–PCR analysis. QQS drafted the manuscript. ZFQ and TJW revised the manuscript. LLH and FSL provided the funding. All authors have read and approved the manuscript and agree to its publication.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/15592324.2022.2088665

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by grants from the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2018YFD1000503), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31960451), and the Special Projects of the Key Laboratory for Crop Production and Smart Agriculture of Yunnan Province (No. 202105AG070007).