Genome-Wide Analysis of Dof Genes and Their Response to Abiotic Stress in Rose (Rosa chinensis)

Abstract

Dof (DNA binding with one finger) proteins play important roles in plant development and defense regulatory networks. In the present study, we report a genome-wide analysis of rose <i>Dof</i> genes (<i>RchDof</i>), including phylogenetic inferences, gene structures, chromosomal locations, gene duplications, and expression diversity. A total of 24 full-length <i>RchDof</i> genes were identified in <i>Rosa chinensis</i>, which were assigned to nine distinct subgroups. These <i>RchDof</i> genes were unevenly distributed on rose chromosomes. The genome-scale analysis of synteny indicated that segmental duplication events may have played a major role in the evolution of the <i>RchDof</i> gene family. Analysis of <i>cis</i>-acting elements revealed putative functions of <i>Dofs</i> in rose during development as well as under numerous biotic and abiotic stress conditions. Moreover, the expression profiles derived from qRT-PCR experiments demonstrated distinct expression patterns in various tissues, and gene expression divergence existed among the duplicated <i>RchDof</i> genes, suggesting a fundamentally functional divergence of the duplicated <i>Dof</i> paralogs in rose. The gene expression analysis of <i>RchDof</i>s under drought and salt stress conditions was also performed. The present study offered novel insights into the evolution of <i>RchDof</i>s and can aid in the further functional characterization of its candidate genes.