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. 2025 May 22;14(11):1576.
doi: 10.3390/plants14111576.

Genome-Wide Identification and Analysis of GATA Gene Family in Dendrobium officinale Under Methyl Jasmonate and Salt Stress

Zhangting Xu  1 , Feixiong Zheng  1 , Xiaoji Deng  1 , Yiming Sun  1   2 , Zhenming Yu  1   2 , Xiaoxia Shen  1   2
Affiliations

Genome-Wide Identification and Analysis of GATA Gene Family in Dendrobium officinale Under Methyl Jasmonate and Salt Stress

Zhangting Xu et al. Plants (Basel). .

Abstract

Dendrobium officinale, which was rich in bioactive compounds such as polysaccharides, alkaloids, amino acids, and flavonoids, had significant medicinal value and ability to resist stresses. Studies had demonstrated that GATA genes were one of the crucial regulators in controlling plant development and growth and stress response. Genome-wide identification and characterization of the 18 DoGATA genes were displayed. According to phylogenetic relationships, the DoGATA family genes were divided into 4 groups and the conserved motifs of DoGATA1-DoGATA18 within the same group were similar. All DoGATA genes were localized in the nucleus and randomly mapped on 10 chromosomes. The GATA genes in D. officinale experienced one pair of tandem duplication and 4 pairs of segment duplications to expand the family genes. Additionally, we found that the 2000 bp upstream promoter region of the DoGATA genes harbored 23 types of cis-acting elements that were categorized into plant growth and development, phytohormone responsiveness, and stress responsiveness. DoGATA1-DoGATA18 were diversely expressed across different tissues (root, leaf, stem, flower), exposed to salt stress, and following MeJA treatment. Co-expression analysis between DoGATA and enzyme-encoding genes involved in the biosynthesis of flavone showed that DoCHI (LOC110104562) and DoGTMT (LOC110098370) may be potential downstream targets of DoGATA16 to regulate flavonoid biosynthesis to adapt to salt stress. Furthermore, we confirmed that DoGATA16 may act as a key member to resist stress. The collective findings of this study shed light on the function of GATA genes and molecular breeding of D. officinale.

Keywords: Dendrobium officinale; GATA; expression analysis; flavonoid; stress.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Phylogenetic relationship between the 18 DoGATA, 30 OsGATA, and 26 AtGATA genes. The phylogenetic tree was constructed using the neighbor-joining method with 1000 bootstrap values. The varying degrees of purple dots on the branches represent different bootstraps. The red, green, blue, and grey rings indicate Group I, II, III, and IV, respectively.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(A) Phylogenetic tree of the DoGATA gene family. (B) Conserved motifs of DoGATA genes. The X-axis represents the protein molecular weight (kDa) of each gene. (C) The structure of the DoGATA genes. The X-axis represents the genes’ length (bp). (D) Multiple sequence alignment. The red lines and triangle highlight the conserved GATA domain (C-X2-C-X17–20-C-X2-C). (E) Ten conserved motifs of DoGATA genes.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Chromosomal localization of GATA genes in D. officinale. The positions of DoGATA gene members were marked on Chr 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 11, 12, and 14. The left axis indicates chromosome length (Mb).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Collinearity analysis of DoGATA genes. (A) Intergroup collinearity analysis of DoGATA genes. Gene density was displayed in both linear and heatmap formats. (B) Collinearity of DoGATAs, A. thaliana, and O. sativa.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Cis-acting elements (CAEs) analysis of GATA genes in D. officinale. (A) Heatmap of CAEs in the promoter sequences of DoGATA genes responding to 3 categories. The number of each CAE was visualized as a heatmap. (B) Number of CAEs in each DoGATA gene. (C) Histogram of different CAEs in growth and development. (D) Histogram of different CAEs in phytohormone. (E) Histogram of different CAEs in stress.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Tertiary structure analysis of DoGATA proteins. Red indicated α-helices, yellow represented β-sheets, and blue denoted random coil.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Expression pattern analysis of DoGATA genes in different tissues (flower, leaf, root, and stem), as determined by qRT-PCR.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Expression levels of DoGATA genes under salt-treated in leaf (A) and root (B) for 12 h. Mean values and standard deviations (SDs) indicated by error bars. Significant differences: * (p < 0.05), ** (p < 0.01), and *** (p < 0.001).
Figure 9
Figure 9
Expression levels of DoGATA genes under MeJA-treatment in leaf for 12 h. Mean values and standard deviations (SDs) indicated by error bars. Significant differences: * (p < 0.05), ** (p < 0.01), and *** (p < 0.001).
Figure 10
Figure 10
Expression profiles of enzyme-encoding genes involved in flavonoid biosynthesis in the different tissues (flower, leaf, root, and stem). DoPAL (LOC110113904, LOC110115785): phenylalanine ammonia-lyase. DoC4H (LOC110098613, LOC110101902, LOC110113575): cinnamate 4-hydroxylase. Do4CL (LOC110096296, LOC110097922, LOC110098614, LOC110116261): 4-coumarate coenzyme A ligase. DoCHS (LOC110113809, LOC110115249): chalcone synthase. DoCHI (LOC110099164, LOC110108986, LOC110104562): chalcone isomerase. DoF3′H (LOC110095936, LOC110109133, LOC110115941): flavanone-3′-hydroxylase. DoF3’5’H (LOC110103762): flavanone-3′,5′-hydroxylase. DoF3H (LOC110113906, LOC110106800, LOC110097388): flavanone-3-hydroxylase. DoFLS (LOC110095017, LOC110098387, LOC110100324, LOC110106777, LOC110109638): flavone synthase. DoDFR (LOC110101655, LOC110111528): dihydroflavonol 4-reductase. DoGTMT (LOC110094920, LOC110095814, LOC110109272, LOC110098588, LOC110095820, LOC110098370): anthocyanidin 3-O-glucosyltransferase.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Correlation analysis with enzyme-encoding genes involved in flavonoid biosynthesis and DoGATA genes under salt-treated in leaf (A), root (B), and MeJA-treated (C).
Figure 12
Figure 12
Subcellular localization of DoGATA16. The pHB-YFP acted as a control.
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