Identification and expression pattern analysis of the Hydroxycinnamoyl transferase gene family and function of StHCT6
Chong Du1, Xinyu Ni1, Chengjian Sui1
1Key Laboratory of Plants Adversity Adaptation and Genetic Improvement in Cold and Arid Regions of Inner Mongolia, College of Life Sciences, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, China.
Introduction:
Hydroxycinnamoyl transferase (HCT) is a key enzyme in the plant phenylpropanoid biosynthetic pathway, involved in plant growth, development, and responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. As one of the world's four major staple crops, potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is widely cultivated due to its nutritional value and broad applications, highlighting the importance of studying the StHCT gene family and their expression patterns under abiotic stress.
Methods:
In this study, we identified 25 HCT genes from the Atlantic potato genome and conducted a comprehensive analysis of their phylogenetic relationships, gene structure, syntenic conservation across species, cis-regulatory elements, and expression specificity.
Results:
Tissue-specific expression profiles revealed higher transcript abundance in roots and stems compared to leaves and flowers. Notably, StHCT genes exhibited differential expression patterns under various stress conditions, with some genes consistently upregulated early during multiple treatments, suggesting their potential as core candidates mediating stress responses. Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) was used to silence StHCT6, which may have altered the disease resistance of potato leaves, resulting in more severe oxidative damage following bacterial infection.
Discussion:
Our results indicate that these StHCTs exhibit a high degree of conservation in terms of their genetic structure and evolutionary relationships. Some StHCTs show significant responses in tissue specificity and expression profiles under non-biological stress. After silencing StHCT6 in potatoes, the leaves of the silenced plants suffered more severe oxidative damage after pathogen infection. These findings lay the foundation for elucidating the functional roles of StHCT in regulating potato growth and stress adaptation mechanisms.
