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Acta Prataculturae Sinica ›› 2022, Vol. 31 ›› Issue (12): 106-117.DOI: 10.11686/cyxb2021471

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Identification of CAX gene family and expression profile analysis of response to abiotic stress in alfalfa

Guo-xiang ZHANG(), Wei-leng GUO(), Ming-yu BI, Li-shuang ZHANG, Dan WANG, Chang-hong GUO()   

  1. Key Laboratory of Molecular Cytogenetics and Genetic Breeding of Heilongjiang Province,College of Life Science and Technology,Harbin Normal University,Harbin 150000,China
  • Received:2021-12-14 Revised:2022-01-27 Online:2022-12-20 Published:2022-10-17
  • Contact: Chang-hong GUO

Abstract:

Ca2+/H+ reverse transporter proteins (CAX) are an important group of transmembrane transporters, which plays important roles in regulating Ca2+ balance, resisting abiotic stresses and transporting heavy metal ions in plants. Using bioinformatics methods, we performed a genome-wide identification of CAX gene family occurrence in alfalfa. In this work, the physicochemical properties, structural characteristics, phylogenetic relationships, cis-acting elements and chromosome locations of CAX gene family members were analyzed. Fifteen MsCAX genes were identified and these were distributed on 15 alfalfa chromosomes with 22 pairs of segmental duplication events. Further analysis showed that they encoded 367-460 amino acids with isoelectric points ranging from pH 5.2 to 6.5. All of them were hydrophobic proteins. Phylogenetic analysis showed that MsCAXs were divided into two subfamilies, and members of the same subfamily had similar genetic structures, conserved motifs, and the number of transmembrane domains. The promoter region of MsCAXs contained the light, hormone and stress-responsive elements. The expression patterns of six MsCAXs genes in response to abiotic stress were analyzed by qRT-PCR. It was found that all six MsCAX genes were significantly down-regulated under drought and low temperature stress, and three MsCAX genes were up-regulated under salt and saline-alkali stress. These results indicate that MsCAX gene has different expression patterns under different abiotic stresses. The results provide a reference for further exploration of the functions of the MsCAX gene family.

Key words: alfalfa, CAX gene family, genome-wide gene identification, abiotic stress, gene expression