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. 2025 Aug 10;15(1):29251.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-14284-6.

Identification of the AKR gene family in sweet cherry and its response to different abiotic stresses

Zhigang Guo  1 , Xiaojuan An  2 , Yali Zou  1 , Fei Deng  1
Affiliations

Identification of the AKR gene family in sweet cherry and its response to different abiotic stresses

Zhigang Guo et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

To explore the role of aldehyde-keto reductase (AKR) gene family in sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) responses to abiotic stresses, we identified 38 PaAKR genes via bioinformatics and analyzed their expression under PEG6000 (drought), NaCl (salinity), and ABA (hormone) treatments. Evolutionary analysis classified these genes into 5 subfamilies, with cis-acting elements indicating involvement in stress and hormone signaling. Real-time PCR showed that 8 genes (PaAKR3, PaAKR6, PaAKR10, PaAKR12, PaAKR17, PaAKR24, PaAKR28, PaAKR34) were strongly responsive to all three treatments. These findings highlight the potential of PaAKRs in mediating abiotic stress adaptation in sweet cherry and provide key candidate genes for enhancing stress resistance through functional studies.

Keywords: AKR family gene; Abiotic stress; Cherry; Real-time fluorescence quantification.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Evolutionary analysis of PaAKR and AtAKR family genes.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Subcellular localization map of PaAKR28.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
PaAKR family gene Motif and conserved domain analysis.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Chromosome localization analysis of PaAKR family gene.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Analysis of Cis-acting elements and genetic structure of PaAKR family genes.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Collinearity analysis of PaAKR family genes.
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
Relative usage of synonymous codons in cherry AKR gene family.
Fig. 8
Fig. 8
Expression pattern analysis of PaAKR family genes under three adversity stresses.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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