Transcription factor profile analysis of the Antarctic vascular plant Deschampsia antarctica Desv. (Poaceae)

Abstract

Transcription factors (TFs), which control gene expression through sequence-specific interactions with cis-elements of downstream gene promoters, play an important role in developmental processes and in response to environmental stress. To explore the molecular mechanism behind stress signaling and the development of Antarctic hairgrass (Deschampsia antarctica Desv.), a terrestrial plant that has successfully adapted to the Antarctic climate, we analyzed the D. antarctica EST database and constructed a TF profile based on sequence homology searches with other plant TFs to identify 1,083 transcripts encoding TFs categorized into 53 TF families. The gene ontology distribution of TF-encoding transcripts and lineage-specific expansion/contraction of TF families were analyzed. In addition, we identified a group of putative abiotic stress-induced TFs by comparing EST libraries generated under different abiotic conditions and validated the results using quantitative real-time PCR. Since plant TFs are primary targets for genetic engineering and the development of stress-tolerant crops, these results could be a useful resource for agricultural applications. To explore the molecular mechanism behind stress signaling and the development of Antarctic hairgrass (Deschampsia antarctica Desv.), a terrestrial plant that has successfully adapted to the Antarctic climate, we analyzed the D. antarctica EST database and constructed a TF profile based on sequence homology searches with other plant TFs to identify 1,083 transcripts encoding TFs categorized into 53 TF families. The gene ontology distribution of TF-encoding transcripts and lineage-specific expansion/contraction of TF families were analyzed. In addition, we identified a group of putative abiotic stress-induced TFs by comparing EST libraries generated under different abiotic conditions and validated the results using quantitative real-time PCR. Since plant TFs are primary targets for genetic engineering and the development of stress-tolerant crops, these results could be a useful resource for agricultural applications.