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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Abiotic Stress
Volume 16 - 2025 |
doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1535733
This article is part of the Research Topic Salinity and Drought Stress in Plants: Understanding Physiological, Biochemical and Molecular Responses Volume II View all 24 articles
Evolutionary and functional analysis of the DIR gene family in Moso bamboo: insights into rapid shoot growth and stress responses
Provisionally accepted
Xueyun Xuan 1
Shiying Su 1 Jialu Chen 1 Jiaqi Tan 1 Zhen Yu 1 Yang Jiao 1 Sijia Cai 1
Zhijun Zhang 1*
Muthusamy Ramakrishnan 2*- 1 Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou, China
- 2 Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
Dirigent (DIR) proteins are key regulators of lignin and lignan biosynthesis and play critical roles in plant hormone responses, abiotic stress tolerance, and growth and development. This study identified and characterized 47 PeDIR genes in Moso bamboo, classifying them into three groups. Phylogenetic and comparative analyses revealed strong evolutionary conservation, with the Moso bamboo PeDIR genes being most closely related to those in rice and maize. DIR proteins within each subfamily exhibited high conservation in motif composition, domain structure, and 3D configuration. Subcellular localization and protein interaction studies further elucidated PeDIR gene functions. Specifically, PeDIR02 primarily localized to the cell membrane and was shown to be unable to form homodimers in yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) assays. Transcriptome and expression analyses revealed the involvement of PeDIR genes in rapid shoot growth, indicating roles in lignin biosynthesis and cell wall modification. Transcriptome and qRT-PCR data also demonstrated the responsiveness of these genes to hormones and abiotic stresses, such as drought and salinity. This study constructed the first comprehensive regulatory network between transcription factors (TFs) and PeDIR genes, identifying ERF, DOF, and MYB TFs as key synergistic regulators of PeDIR gene expression.
Keywords: DIR gene family, rapid shoot growth, Hormone response, abiotic stress, TFs regulatory network 1 Introduction
Received: 27 Nov 2024; Accepted: 31 Jan 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Xuan, Su, Chen, Tan, Yu, Jiao, Cai, Zhang and Ramakrishnan. 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:
Zhijun Zhang, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou, China
Muthusamy Ramakrishnan, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
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