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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Bioinformatics
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1533225
Genome-Wide Identification and Expression Analysis of the ADH gene family in Artemisia annua L. under UV-B Stress
Provisionally accepted
Hengyu Pan 1 Peiqi Shi 1 Shan Zhong 2
Ding Xiaoxia 3 Shengye Bao 1 Siyu Zhao 1 Jieting Chen 1 Chunyan Dai 1
Danchun Zhang 1
Xiaohui Qiu 1* Baosheng Liao 1*
Zhihai Huang 1*- 1 Second Clinical Medical College, Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China
- 2 Mudanjiang Normal University, Mudanjiang, China
- 3 School of Chinese Materia Medica, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China
ADHs are key genes that catalyze the interconversion between alcohols and aldehydes, which play crucial roles in plant adaptation to a range of abiotic stresses. However, the characterization and evolutionary pathways of ADH genes in the antimalarial plant Artemisia annua are still unclear. This study identified 49 ADH genes in A. annua and conducted a detailed analysis of their structural features, conserved motifs, and duplication types, revealing that tandem and dispersed duplications are the primary mechanisms of gene expansion. Evolutionary analysis of ADH genes between A. annua (AanADH) and A. argyi (AarADH) revealed dynamic changes, with 35 genes identified deriving from their most recent common ancestor in both species. ADH1, crucial for artemisinin production, had two copies in both species, expanding via dispersed duplicationin A. annua but whole-genome duplication in A. argyi. Cis-acting elements and WGCNA analysis suggested that AanADH genes may be regulated by UV-B stress. Following short-term UV-B treatment, 16 DEGs were identified, including ADH1 (AanADH6 and AanADH7), and these genes were significantly downregulated after two hours treatment (UV2h) and upregulated after 4 hours treatment (UV4h). The expression changes of these genes were further confirmed by GO enrichment analysis and qRT-PCR experiments. Overall, this study comprehensively characterized the ADH gene family in A. annua and systematically identified AanADH genes that were responsive to UV-B stress, providing a foundation for further research on their role in abiotic stress responses.
Keywords: alcohol dehydrogenases, Artemisia annua, Gene Duplication, Expression patterns, UV-B stress, qRT-PCR
Received: 23 Nov 2024; Accepted: 20 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Pan, Shi, Zhong, Xiaoxia, Bao, Zhao, Chen, Dai, Zhang, Qiu, Liao and Huang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Xiaohui Qiu, Second Clinical Medical College, Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China
Baosheng Liao, Second Clinical Medical College, Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China
Zhihai Huang, Second Clinical Medical College, Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China
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