Identification of the DEAD-box gene family and expression analysis of abiotic stress in potatoes

Unwinding enzymes are a group of highly conserved enzymes that play important roles in plant growth and development as well as in adverse and stress conditions. The DEAD-box family represents the largest subfamily of deconjugating enzymes. However, little research has been conducted on the DEAD-box RNA gene family (<i>StRH</i>) in potato. Identifying and screening members of the DEAD-box gene family in potato could help us to better understand the response of potatoes to adverse and stress conditions and the related tolerance mechanisms. We identified a total of 73 DEAD-box gene family members from the potato genome-wide database. A comprehensive bioinformatics study of the potato DEAD-box family was carried out by a range of analytical methods. The evolutionary tree demonstrated that the potato DEAD-box family was divided into five distinct taxa. Three pairs of segmental repeats were identified on the chromosomes. In addition, we selected nine DEAD-box genes for qPCR(Quantitative Real-time PCR), and the results indicated that all of these genes were involved in both the ABA hormone stress and drought stress. These findings may help to increase our understanding of the functional diversity of the potato DEAD-box gene family under different environmental stresses.