Table_1_Genome-wide identification of Cymbidium sinense WRKY gene family and the importance of its Group III members in response to abiotic stress.XLS

Transcription factors (TFs) of the WRKY family play pivotal roles in defense responses and secondary metabolism of plants. Although WRKY TFs are well documented in numerous plant species, no study has performed a genome-wide investigation of the WRKY gene family in Cymbidium sinense. In the present work, we found 64 C. sinense WRKY (CsWRKY) TFs, and they were further divided into eight subgroups. Chromosomal distribution of CsWRKYs revealed that the majority of these genes were localized on 16 chromosomes, especially on Chromosome 2. Syntenic analysis implied that 13 (20.31%) genes were derived from segmental duplication events, and 17 orthologous gene pairs were identified between Arabidopsis thaliana WRKY (AtWRKY) and CsWRKY genes. Moreover, 55 of the 64 CsWRKYs were detectable in different plant tissues in response to exposure to plant hormones. Among them, Group III members were strongly induced in response to various hormone treatments, indicating their potential essential roles in hormone signaling. We subsequently analyzed the function of CsWRKY18 in Group III. The CsWRKY18 was localized in the nucleus. The constitutive expression of CsWRKY18 in Arabidopsis led to enhanced sensitivity to ABA-mediated seed germination and root growth and elevated plant tolerance to abiotic stress within the ABA-dependent pathway. Overall, our study represented the first genome-wide characterization and functional analysis of WRKY TFs in C. sinense, which could provide useful clues about the evolution and functional description of CsWRKY genes.

转录因子（TFs）中的WRKY家族在植物的抗性响应和次生代谢中扮演着至关重要的角色。尽管WRKY TFs在多种植物物种中均有详细记载，但至今尚无研究对兰科植物Cymbidium sinense的WRKY基因家族进行全基因组调查。在本研究中，我们发现了64个C. sinense WRKY（CsWRKY）转录因子，并进一步将其分为八个亚组。CsWRKYs的染色体分布分析显示，大多数基因定位于16条染色体上，尤其是第2染色体。同源分析表明，其中有13个基因（占比20.31%）源自片段重复事件，并在拟南芥（Arabidopsis thaliana）的WRKY（AtWRKY）基因与CsWRKY基因之间确定了17对直系同源基因。此外，在植物激素暴露下，64个CsWRKY中有55个在植物的不同组织中可检测到。其中，第III组成员对各种激素处理表现出强烈的诱导反应，表明它们在激素信号传导中可能具有至关重要的作用。我们随后分析了CsWRKY18在第III组中的功能。CsWRKY18定位于细胞核中。在拟南芥中组成型表达CsWRKY18导致对ABA介导的种子萌发和根生长的敏感性增强，以及植物在ABA依赖途径中对外源非生物胁迫的耐受性提高。总体而言，本研究首次对C. sinense的WRKY转录因子进行了全基因组特征描述和功能分析，这为CsWRKY基因的进化与功能描述提供了有益的线索。