Abstract:

In order to explore the characteristics of CIPK family members and predict their function, the CIPK family genes of Glycyrrhiza uralensis were identified by bioinformatics, and their phylogeny, gene structure, conserved motif and evolutionary relationship were analyzed. The results showed that 22 GuCIPK genes were identified from Glycyrrhiza uralensis, and chromosomal location analysis showed that they were distributed on 19 different scaffolds. Amino acid sequence alignment indicated that most of the GuCIPKs contained a Ser/ Thr domain, a NAF domain and a PPI domain. Phylogenetic tree analysis displayed that the 22 GuCIPKs could be classified into 5 subfamilies, and there existed multiple parallel homologous gene pairs between GuCIPKs and CIPKs of Arabidopsis thaliana and Glycine max. G. uralensis GuCIPK promoter regions included some cis-elements involved in response to abiotic stress and hormone,suggesting their potential functions under regulation of different signals. Tissue-specific expression pattern analysis showed that the GuCIPKs could be classified into four groups Ⅰ-Ⅳ, and the six members of group Ⅱ had high accumulations in roots, stems and leaves, while the other GuCIPK members of groups Ⅰ, Ⅲ and Ⅳ three groups appeared relative low abundance in the tissues of root, stem and leaf. Quantitative real time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis demonstrated that GuCIPK genes were induced significantly by different abiotic stresses of salt, oxidation, drought, high temperature and low temperature. These results provide effective reference to investigate the GuCIPK function and elucidate the possible regulatory mechanism.

Key words: Glycyrrhiza uralensis, CIPK, gene family identification, gene expression analysis, abiotic stress