关键词: CCCH, 番茄, 生物信息学, 表达分析

Abstract:

CCCH （C3H） type zinc finger proteins are evolutionarily conserved RNA-binding proteins， which primarily bind to DNA and RNA and play a role on the regulation of gene expression. They are not only involved in plant growth and development and hormone regulation， but also in response to biotic and abiotic stresses. 47 SlC3H genes in tomato were identified by bioinformatics approach， which were unevenly distributed on 12 chromosomes and mainly localised in the nucleus. They were divided into 3 subclades （Ⅰ~Ⅲ） based on phylogenetic relationships. The covariance analysis revealed the presence of gene duplication in the SlC3H gene family， which suggested that SlC3H genes might have undergone family member expansion through duplication during evolution. The tomato SlC3H gene contained 1~14 exons with elements responsive to hormonal and abiotic stresses in its promoter region. The Ka/Ks analysis indicated that members of the SlC3H gene family and C3H genes had undergone strong evolutionary selection during evolution. The qRT-PCR analysis revealed that the expression of more than half of the SlC3H gene family was up-regulated under salt stress， with SlC3H1 reaching a maximum expression at 8 h， 30 times higher than at 0 h. And the expressions of all SlC3H genes were up-regulated under 0.1 mol·L^-1 2，4-epibrassinolide （EBR） treatment， with 8~150 times higher than control. In especial， the expression of SlC3H28 in other stages was almost zero， but it’s expression in green ripening stage was 150 times higher than control. Above results provided a reference for further insights into the function of the C3H gene family in tomato in response to abiotic stresses and fruit development.

Key words: CCCH, tomato, biological informatics, expression analysis