AUTHOR=Hou Zhe , Li Ang , Huang Changbing 

TITLE=Genome-wide identification, characterization and expression of HSP 20 gene family in dove

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Genetics

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/genetics/articles/10.3389/fgene.2022.1011676

DOI=10.3389/fgene.2022.1011676

ISSN=1664-8021

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Davidia involucrata</italic> is a significant living fossil with high abiotic stress tolerance. Although heat shock protein 20 (HSP20) has already been linked to heat stress, nothing is known about HSP20 family protein activities in <italic>D. involucrata</italic>. The functional dynamics of the <italic>D. involucrata</italic> HSP20 (<italic>DiHSP20</italic>) gene family were identified and characterized using a thorough genome-wide investigation. From the genome of <italic>D. involucrata</italic>, a total of 42 HSP20 genes were identified, which are distributed across 16 chromosomes. The <italic>DiHSP20</italic> proteins were grouped into seven separate subfamilies by our phylogenetic analysis, which was validated by the conserved motif composition and gene structure studies. Segmental duplication events were shown to play a crucial role in the expansion of the <italic>DiHSP20</italic> gene family. Synteny analysis revealed that 19 <italic>DiHSP20</italic> genes of <italic>D. involucrata</italic> shared a syntenic connection with <italic>Arabidopsis</italic> genes, 39 with <italic>C. acuminata</italic> genes, and just 6 with <italic>O. sativa</italic> genes. Additionally, heat stress differently enhanced the expression levels of <italic>D. involucrata</italic> HSP20 genes. After 1 hour of heat treatment, the expression levels of most <italic>DiHSP20</italic> genes, particularly <italic>DiHSP20-7</italic>, <italic>DiHSP20-29</italic>, <italic>DiHSP20-30</italic>, <italic>DiHSP20-32</italic>, and <italic>DiHSP20-34</italic>, were dramatically increased, suggestted that they might be employed as heat tolerance candidate genes. Overall, these findings add to our knowledge of the HSP20 family genes and provide helpful information for breeding heat stress resistance in <italic>D. involucrata</italic>.</p>