title: Genome-wide survey of the soybean GATA transcription factor gene family and expression analysis under low nitrogen stress.
abstract: GATA transcription factors are transcriptional regulatory proteins that contain a characteristic type-IV zinc finger DNA-binding domain and recognize the conserved GATA motif in the promoter sequence of target genes. Previous studies demonstrated that plant GATA factors possess critical functions in developmental control and responses to the environment. To date, the GATA factors in soybean (Glycine max) have yet to be characterized. Thus, this study identified 64 putative GATA factors from the entire soybean genomic sequence. The chromosomal distributions, gene structures, duplication patterns, phylogenetic tree, tissue expression patterns, and response to low nitrogen stress of the 64 GATA factors in soybean were analyzed to further investigate the functions of these factors. Results indicated that segmental duplication predominantly contributed to the expansion of the GATA factor gene family in soybean. These GATA proteins were phylogenetically clustered into four distinct subfamilies, wherein their gene structure and motif compositions were considerably conserved. A comparative phylogenetic analysis of the GATA factor zinc finger domain sequences in soybean, Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), and rice (Oryza sativa) revealed four major classes. The GATA factors in soybean exhibited expression diversity among different tissues; some of these factors showed tissue-specific expression patterns. Numerous GATA factors displayed upregulation or downregulation in soybean leaf in response to low nitrogen stress, and two GATA factors GATA44 and GATA58 were likely to be involved in the regulation of nitrogen metabolism in soybean. Overexpression of GmGATA44 complemented the reduced chlorophyll phenotype of the Arabidopsis ortholog AtGATA21 mutant, implying that GmGATA44 played an important role in modulating chlorophyll biosynthesis. Overall, our study provides useful information for the further analysis of the biological functions of GATA factors in soybean and other crops.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Oil Crop Biology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Oil Crops Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Chanjuan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Oil Crop Biology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Oil Crops Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Yuqing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Oil Crop Biology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Oil Crops Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Qingnan
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Hao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Oil Crop Biology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Oil Crops Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Haifeng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Oil Crop Biology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Oil Crops Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Limiao
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Oil Crop Biology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Oil Crops Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Songli
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Oil Crop Biology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Oil Crops Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Zhihui
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Shan
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Oil Crop Biology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Oil Crops Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Xiaojuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Oil Crop Biology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Oil Crops Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Zhonglu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Oil Crop Biology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Oil Crops Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Dezhen
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Oil Crop Biology of the Ministry of Agriculture, Oil Crops Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Xinan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Plant Germplasm Enhancement and Specialty Agriculture, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Wenjun
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D050980:GATA Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D020440:Gene Duplication; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D018745:Genome, Plant; D005810:Multigene Family; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000378:metabolism*; D012275:Oryza / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D013025:Glycine max / Q000235:genetics*; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D050980:GATA Transcription Factors; D010940:Plant Proteins; D009584:Nitrogen