Identification of the sugarcane β-1,3-glucanase gene family and analysis of their expression under various stress conditions.

Tingchen HUANG; Yifei XIA; Yurong LUO; Shoujian ZANG; Yan CHEN; Qinghong LIU; Yingying LI; Yue ZHANG; Wenyue ZHANG; Yachun SU; Chuihuai YOU

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Identification of the sugarcane β-1,3-glucanase gene family and analysis of their expression under various stress conditions.

Author: Tingchen HUANG ¹ ; Yifei XIA ¹ ; Yurong LUO ¹ ; Shoujian ZANG ¹ ; Yan CHEN ¹ ; Qinghong LIU ¹ ; Yingying LI ¹ ; Yue ZHANG ¹ ; Wenyue ZHANG ² ; Yachun SU ¹ ; Chuihuai YOU ²
Author Information

1. Key Laboratory of Sugarcane Biology and Genetic Breeding, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, Fujian, China.
2. College of Life Sciences, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, Fujian, China.
Publication Type:Journal Article
Keywords: gene expression; stress; sugarcane; whole genome analysis; β-1,3-glucanase gene family
MeSH: Saccharum/physiology*; Stress, Physiological/genetics*; Glucan 1,3-beta-Glucosidase/metabolism*; Multigene Family; Phylogeny; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Plant Proteins/genetics*
From: Chinese Journal of Biotechnology 2025;41(7):2913-2933
CountryChina
Language:Chinese
Abstract: Sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) is an important sugar crop. Biotic and abiotic stresses such as diseases, cold, and drought are major factors limiting sugarcane production. β-1,3-glucanase (EC 3.2.1.39), a member of the pathogenesis-related protein family, plays an essential role not only in the plant defenses against pathogens but also in plant growth, development, and abiotic stress responses. To systematically investigate the sugarcane β-1,3-glucanase gene family, 132 glycoside hydrolase (GH) 17 family members were identified in the genomes of the sugarcane wild species Saccharum spontaneum 'Np-X', the tropical species S. officinarum 'LA-Purple', and the Saccharum spp. hybrid cultivar 'R570'. The results of the phylogenetic analysis categorized them into four subfamilies, of which subfamily Ⅳ had the largest proportion of members (102). The members of the sugarcane GH17 gene family contained five conserved motifs and 0-16 introns. The majority of the GH17 genes exhibited a genome-wide replication pattern, with 89.50% originating from S. spontaneum 'Np-X' and S. officinarum 'LA-Purple', while 58.10% of them in the Saccharum spp. hybrid cultivar 'R570' belonged to the discrete replication type. Four major classes of cis-acting elements were identified in the promoters, including the elements related to plant growth, development, and tissue-specific expression (14.21%), light-responsive elements (38.24%), biotic or abiotic stress-responsive elements (9.18%), and hormone-responsive elements (38.37%), which suggested that this gene family was involved in plant growth, development, hormone responses, and stress responses. Transcriptome and quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) analyses showed that the sugarcane GH17 genes exhibited tissue-specific expression and were differentially expressed under low temperature, drought, and hormone treatments, as well as during the interactions between different sugarcane genotypes and Sporisorium scitamineum, suggesting their potential roles in plant defenses. In addition, some SsGlu genes (SsGlu5, SsGlu20, SsGlu21, SsGlu25, SsGlu28, and SsGlu39) were expected to serve as candidate stress-related genes. This study lays a foundation for further revealing the molecular mechanisms of the stress resistance of sugarcane via β-1,3-glucanase genes.