title: A genome-wide analysis of the LBD (LATERAL ORGAN BOUNDARIES domain) gene family in Malus domestica with a functional characterization of MdLBD11.
abstract: The plant-specific LBD (LATERAL ORGAN BOUNDARIES domain) genes belong to a major family of transcription factor that encode a zinc finger-like domain. It has been shown that LBD genes play crucial roles in the growth and development of Arabidopsis and other plant species. However, no detailed information concerning this family is available for apple. In the present study, we analyzed the apple (Malus domestica) genome and identified 58 LBD genes. This gene family was tested for its phylogenetic relationships with homologous genes in the Arabidopsis genome, as well as its location in the genome, structure and expression. We also transformed one MdLBD gene into Arabidopsis to evaluate its function. Like Arabidopsis, apple LBD genes also have a conserved CX2CX6CX3C zinc finger-like domain in the N terminus and can be divided into two classes. The expression profile indicated that apple LBD genes exhibited a variety of expression patterns, suggesting that they have diverse functions. At the same time, the expression analysis implied that members of this apple gene family were responsive to hormones and stress and that they may participate in hormone-mediated plant organogenesis, which was demonstrated with the overexpression of the apple LBD gene MdLBD11, resulting in an abnormal phenotype. This phenotype included upward curling leaves, delayed flowering, downward-pointing flowers, siliques and other abnormal traits. Based on these data, we concluded that the MdLBD genes may play an important role in apple growth and development as in Arabidopsis and other species.
authors.affiliation: National Key laboratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai-An, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Xiaofei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Shizhong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yujin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hao
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D019295:Computational Biology; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study; D027845:Malus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D058977:Molecular Sequence Annotation; D005810:Multigene Family; D059372:Nucleotide Motifs; D010802:Phylogeny; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D056510:Position-Specific Scoring Matrices
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D010940:Plant Proteins