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Article

Characterizations of MYB Transcription Factors in Camellia oleifera Reveal the Key Regulators Involved in Oil Biosynthesis

by
Sijia Li
1,2,3,†,
Hu Huang
1,2,3,†,
Xianjin Ma
1,2,3,
Zhikang Hu
1,2,3,
Jiyuan Li
3 and
Hengfu Yin
1,3,*
1
State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, Research Institute of Subtropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Hangzhou 311400, China
2
College of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
3
Key Laboratory of Forest Genetics and Breeding, Research Institute of Subtropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Hangzhou 311400, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Horticulturae 2022, 8(8), 742; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae8080742
Submission received: 27 June 2022 / Revised: 26 July 2022 / Accepted: 12 August 2022 / Published: 18 August 2022
(This article belongs to the Topic Advanced Breeding Technology for Plants)
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Abstract

:
MYB (myeloblastosis) transcription factors plays an important role in various physiological and biochemical processes in plants. However, little is known about the regulatory roles of MYB family genes underlying seed oil biosynthesis in Camellia oleifera. To identify potential regulators, we performed the genome-wide characterizations of the MYB family genes and their expression profiles in C. oleifera. A total of 186 CoMYB genes were identified, including 128 R2R3-type MYB genes that had conserved R2 and R3 domains. Phylogenetic analysis revealed the CoR2R3-MYBs formed 25 subgroups and possessed some highly conserved motifs outside the MYB DNA-binding domain. We investigated the promoter regions of CoR2R3-MYBs and revealed a series of cis-acting elements related to development, hormone response, and environmental stress response, suggesting a diversified regulatory mechanism of gene functions. In addition, we identified four tandem clusters containing eleven CoR2R3-MYBs, which indicated that tandem duplications played an important role in the expansion of the CoR2R3-MYB subfamily. Furthermore, we analyzed the global gene expression profiles at five stages during seed development and revealed seven CoR2R3-MYB genes that potentially regulated lipid metabolism and seed maturation in C. oleifera. These results provide new insights into understanding the function of the MYB genes and the genetic improvement of seed oil.

1. Introduction

The regulation of gene expression plays an important role in most biological processes, such as growth, development, and response to environmental signals [1]. Transcriptional regulation of gene expression mainly depends on the recognition of promoter elements by transcription factors [2].
MYB (myeloblastosis) is one of the largest families of transcription factors in plants. In 1987, the first plant MYB transcription factor was discovered, and a protein-coding gene at the COLORED1 site was identified to affect the accumulation of pigments in the aleurone scutellum tissues of the kernel in maize [3]. In the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, the conserved sequences of the MYB family members were characterized initially [4]. As the Arabidopsis genome was fully sequenced, comprehensive characterizations of the MYB genes at the genome-wide scale were reported in A. thaliana [5]. In recent years, MYB proteins have been identified in a range of plant species, including pear (Pyrus bretschneideri), poplar (Populus trichocarpa), and more [3,6].
The various regulatory functions of MYB members mainly depend on their sequence structure. The N-terminus of MYB members has a highly conserved MYB DNA-binding domain, which is usually composed of 1~4 imperfect repeats (denoted as R) [7]. The C-terminal region outside the MYB DNA-binding domain is found to play important roles in the activation or inhibition of gene expression [7]. Each R contains approximately fifty-two amino acids, forming three helices. The second and third helices of each R form a helix-turn-helix (HTH) structure that binds to the DNA major groove. These repeats have 2–3 highly conserved tryptophan (W) residues that are critical in the formation of the HTH structure. Based on the number of Rs, MYB proteins are divided into four major subfamilies: the MYB proteins with a single or a partial R are named “1R-MYB/MYB-related“, with two Rs are called “R2R3-MYB”, with three Rs are called “3R-MYB” factor, and with four Rs are called “4R-MYB” [5]. Among them, 4R-MYB is found to be the smallest group and not well-known. The 3R-MYBs usually contain five members in higher plants and have been shown to play important roles in cell cycle control [8]. The 1R-MYB contains R3 and R1/R2 type genes, which are involved in secondary metabolism control and organ morphogenesis, respectively [9,10,11].
R2R3-MYBs have been extensively demonstrated to be involved in primary and secondary metabolism [12,13,14]. For instance, in Arabidopsis, AtMYB52, AtMYB54, AtMYB69 (subgroup 21) and AtMYB103 positively regulate the cell wall thickening of fiber cells [15]. AtMYB75, AtMYB90, AtMYB113, and AtMYB114 (subgroup 6) involve in anthocyanin biosynthesis [12]. In poplar, PtMYB165 is a major inhibitor of flavonoid pathways [16]. In addition to playing an independent role in the regulation of plant secondary metabolism, MYB protein can also bind bHLH and WD40 protein to form the ternary MYB-bHLH-WD40 complexes, which regulate the biosynthesis of flavonols, anthocyanins, and procyanidins [17,18,19,20].
R2R3-MYBs also play a key role in regulating lipids metabolism. AtMYB30 has been shown to activate the synthesis of the very-long-chain fatty acids (VLCFAs) [21]. Additionally, AtMYB92 directly activates the BCCP2 promoter, which encodes a component of the fatty acid (FA) biosynthetic pathway [22]. However, more R2R3-MYB genes act as suppressors in lipid metabolism. The expression level of AtMYB76 is negatively correlated with the content of FA in mature seeds [23]. AtMYB89 inhibits seed FA accumulation by regulating KCS11, WRI1, and BCCP1 [13]. AtMYB123 inhibits seed FA biosynthesis by targeting FUS3 [24]. Additionally, AtMYB118 negatively regulates FA biosynthesis in the endosperm by repressing maturation-related genes [25].
C. oleifera is one of the trees in the world that produces edible oil, belonging to the Camellia genus. It has been widely cultivated as an oil crop, in many other countries, including China, the Philippines, India, Japan, Brazil, Thailand, and South Korea [26]. Moreover, the active ingredient of camellia seed cake is saponin, which is a plant pesticide that can also be used for chemical cleaning, machine rust removal, etc. [27]. Camellia oil, the main product of C. oleifera seeds, is extensively used as cooking oil in South Asia. There are mainly seven fatty acids in Camellia oil, including two saturated fatty acids and five unsaturated fatty acids [28]. Additionally, the rapid accumulation of oil contents begins at the stage of seed kernel maturation [29]. The unsaturated fatty acid content of Camellia oil is much higher than that of peanut oil and soybean oil, and the vitamin E content is twice that of olive oil [30]. It remains unclear how R2R3-MYB proteins are involved in the regulation of seed development and oil metabolism.
To uncover the potential regulators related to seed oil biosynthesis, we conducted a comprehensive characterization of MYB family genes in C. oleifera. The members of the MYB family were identified using the recently published genome of C. oleifera [31]. Subsequently, the sequence characteristics, phylogenetic analysis, chromosomal localization, and collinearity of C. oleifera R2R3-MYBs were studied. We also analyzed the expression patterns of R2R3-MYBs at different seed development stages using RNA-seq data. Based on the gene co-expression network analysis, we identified seven CoR2R3-MYB genes and six putative downstream genes of them that may play important roles in seed development and lipid metabolism. This study will help to explore the potential function of the R2R3-MYB transcription factor in C. oleifera and provide important candidate genes for C. oleifera breeding.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Sequence Analysis of MYB Transcription Factors

The amino acid sequences of C. oleifera are derived from the whole genome (accession number: PRJNA732216, including SRR14710457 to SRR14710508). BLASTP and HmmerSearch methods were used for the MYB transcription factors identification of C. oleifera. Initially, the candidate MYB transcription factors were also identified by HMMER3.2.1 using the MYB DNA-binding domain HMM (hidden Markov model) profile (Pfam Number: PF00249) as the reference [32]. The HMM profile was downloaded from the Pfam database (http://pfam.xfam.org/, accessed on 1 June 2021). The longest amino acid sequence was selected for each gene. In parallel, we performed a sequence similarity search with the amino acid sequences from the Arabidopsis Information Resources (TAIR) database (https://www.arabidopsis.org/index.jsp, accessed on 1 June 2021) through BLASTP analysis by the Bioedit software (Version7.0.5.3, e-value < 1 e−10; available at http://www.mbio.ncsu.edu/BioEdit/bioedit.html, accessed on 1 June 2021), in order to screen candidate MYB transcription factors with high sequence homology and to eliminate repeated sequences. Then, the result of HmmerSearch whose e-value is less than 1 e−10 is selected and union with the result of BLASTP. Finally, the Online website SMART (http://smart.embl-heidelberg.de/, accessed on 5 June 2021) was used to further verify whether it contained MYB transcription factors characteristics, and MYB type according to the number of repeats.

2.2. Sequence Features Analysis of CoR2R3-MYBs

The online website CELLO v.2.5 (http://cello.life.nctu.edu.tw/, accessed on 10 June 2021) was used to carry out the subcellular localization prediction. The visualization of the coding region structure analysis was based on the annotation file (GFF3, General Feature Format) of the C. oleifera genome. Weblogo software online (http://weblogo.berkeley.edu/logo.cgi, accessed on 20 June 2021) was used to draw the sequence logo of R2 and R3. SWISS-MODEL was used to draw the three-dimensional structure of the R2R3-MYB consensus sequence of C. oleifera. Using the online website MEME (Version5.4.1, https://meme-suite.org/meme/doc/meme.html, accessed on 22 June 2021) predicted the conserved motif sequence of CoR2R3-MYB transcription factors with the following parameters: number of motifs (10), expect motif sites (anr) [33]. SMART and NCBI CDD were also used to determine the R2R3-MYB domain architecture with the default parameter. All of them were visualized by Tbtools software (Version1.09861, https://github.com/CJ-Chen/TBtools, accessed on 1 June 2021) [34]. To investigate the domain characteristics, 128 C. oleifera R2 and R3 repeats were aligned by ClustalW of MEGA X software [35]. To investigate cis-acting elements in the CoR2R3-MYB gene promoter regions, the 2 kb upstream regions of the CDS were scanned by the Search for CARE program on the PlantCARE database website (http://bioinformatics.psb.ugent.be/webtools/plantcare/html/, accessed on 1 August 2021) and Plant Transcription Factor Database (http://planttfdb.gao-lab.org/index.php, e-value < 1 e−5, accessed on 12 June 2022). We selected promoters of genes with MYB binding elements in both databases for display. Intron length distribution density diagram and cis-acting element diagram were plotted with R package “ggplot2” [36].

2.3. Chromosomal Location and Synteny Analysis

We visualized the localization of CoR2R3-MYBs on chromosomes. The tandem genes were identified by the following criteria: (1) homologous CoR2R3-MYB genes were located within 150 kb, and (2) these genes were separated by 2 or fewer other genes.
Multiple Collinearity Scan toolkit (MCScanX) was used to analyze gene duplication events [37]. Two model plants, A. thaliana and P. trichocarpa, were selected for interspecies collinearity analysis. Genome and annotated files of A. thaliana (PRJNA10719, GCF_000001735.4) and P. trichocarpa (PRJNA17973, GCF_000002775.4) are downloaded from NCBI. Then, TBtools software was used to visualize the above results [34].

2.4. Phylogenetic Analysis

Multi-sequence alignment of 128 full-length CoR2R3-MYB proteins was performed by ClustalW and the phylogenetic tree was conducted by the neighbor-joining method (NJ) with 1000 bootstrap replicates [38]. They were all completed using MEGA X software [35]. Multi-sequence alignment of 126 A. thaliana R2R3-MYBs,128 C. oleifera R2R3-MYBs, and 5 “Landmark” MYB transcription factors of other species was conducted using MUSCLE of MEGA X software [35]. MYB transcription factors of five other species are HvGAMYB (accession number: AAG22863.1), PtGAMYB (AZQ25486.1), NtMYB1 (AAB41101.1), PhMYBAN2 (BAP28593.1), AmMYBPHAN (CAA06612.1). All of them were downloaded from NCBI (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/, accessed on 22 August 2021). Tbtools software was used to call trimAl (Version1.2, http://trimal.cgenomics.org/, accessed on 1 June 2021) and IQ-TREE (Version1.6.12, http://www.iqtree.org/, accessed on 1 June 2021), trim the results of multiple sequence alignment and find the most suitable amino acid substitution model (VT+R10), and finally build a Maximum likelihood (ML) phylogenetic tree with 5000 ultrafast bootstrap replicates [34,39,40]. iTOL online tool (Interactive Tree of Life, Version 6.3.2, https://itol.embl.de/, accessed on 28 May 2021) was used to beautify the phylogenetic tree and 25 subgroups of Arabidopsis R2R3-MYB proteins were introduced to classify CoR2R3-MYB proteins [41].

2.5. Analysis of CoR2R3-MYBs Expression Pattern at Five Different Stages of Seed Development

RNA-seq data of seeds at five different developmental stages (PRJNA668531) were downloaded from NCBI Short Read Archive (SRA, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra/?term=, accessed on 22 October 2021). The five developmental stages of seeds were T1, T2, T3, T4, and T5. The oil content gradually increased from T1 to T5 and reached the highest at T5 [29]. Quality control of RNA-seq data was performed using FastQC (Version 3), and qualified data were used for mapping to the reference genome of C. oleifera by Hisat2 (Version 2.1.0) [42]. The Sam files obtained above were converted to BAM file format using Samtools (Version 1.9) and reads in BAM files were sorted [43]. String Tie (Version 1.3.6) performs initial sequence assembly, generates a GTF file for each BAM file, combines GTF files containing transcripts information into a single GTF, and combines these transcripts into a non-redundant set of transcripts [44]. Next, these transcripts were reassembled, and gene expression abundances were estimated (normalized by FPKM, Fragments Per Kilobase Million). Finally, CoR2R3-MYBs expression levels were extracted. All expression data were converted through log2, and heatmaps were drawn through the R package “pheatmap” to show the expression patterns of CoR2R3-MYB genes.

2.6. Weighted Correlation Network Analysis (WGCNA) and Screening of Hub Genes

The WGCNA R Shiny was used to analyze the co-expression of genes [45]. The genes whose logFPKM was less than 1 in 90% of the samples were filtered out, and the genes whose median absolute deviation was in the top 10,000 were selected to construct a scale-free network. The scale-free network was constructed with the soft threshold corresponding to R2 ≥ 0.8 for the first time, then modules were obtained using the default settings. The module eigengene (ME, the first principal component of a given module) values were associated with the sample. We selected the turquoise module with the largest number of genes, which is strongly correlated with the T5 stage which has the highest oil content, to explore the involvement of the CoR2R3-MYBs in lipid-related functions. The hub genes were screened according to the eigengene connectivity (kME) value. We selected the CoR2R3-MYBs with a kME value ≥ 0.9 as the module hub genes to study the possible function of the CoR2R3-MYBs. These CoR2R3-MYBs and their co-expressed genes (weight > 0.3) were annotated based on GO and Swiss-Prot (https://www.uniprot.org/downloads, accessed on 12 November 2021) [46]. TBtools software was used to conduct GO enrichment according to the GO annotation information. We selected the top five terms with the smallest p-value in the three parts of GO, respectively, for display. Next, the Cytoscape software (Version 3.8.2) was used to perform the co-expression regulatory network based on the annotation of Swiss-Prot [47]. The expression profiles of hub genes and their co-expressed genes related to lipid metabolism were plotted using the R package “pheatmap”.

3. Results

3.1. Identification of MYB Transcription Factors in C. oleifera

Based on the BLASTP and HmmerSearch analysis, 44 1R-MYB proteins, 137 2R-MYB proteins, and 5 3R-MYB proteins were obtained (Table S1). We found that nine 2R-MYB genes were less conserved with consensus sequences, less than 40%, and displayed extra sequence features determined by the SMART analysis (Table S2). We categorized the nine 2R-MYB genes into the “Unusual MYB proteins”. In summary, we reported a total of 186 MYB transcription factors in C. oleifera, containing 44 1R-MYB proteins,128 R2R3-MYB proteins, 5 3R-MYB proteins, and 9 “Unusual” MYB proteins (Table 1). We found that the number of MYB genes is comparable to the model plants, A. thaliana, and P. trichocarpa, and they all have five 3R-MYB members (Table 1) [5,6].

3.2. Protein Sequences Analysis of CoR2R3-MYBs

We analyzed the protein sequences and found that the longest R2R3-MYB protein (CoMYB115) contained 1444 amino acids, and the shortest (CoMYB13) contained 107 amino acids (Table S3). The prediction of subcellular localization indicated that 124 CoR2R3-MYB proteins were located in the nucleus, 3 in the mitochondrial, and 1 in the extracellular (Table S3).
To further understand the sequence features of the CoR2R3-MYB proteins from an evolutionary perspective, we constructed a phylogenetic tree based on 128 R2R3-MYBs of C. oleifera (Figure S1A). We found that most proteins in the same clade have similar sequence features. The protein domain analysis showed that most of them had the conserved R2 and R3 domains in the N-terminal (Figure S1C). Additionally, there are zero to five low-complexity regions on the C-terminal (Figure S1C). Consistent with this result, we showed that most members from the same clade have one or more identical motifs outside the MYB domain (Figure S1B).

3.3. Sequence Conservation of the R2R3 Domain

To investigate the features of the CoR2R3-MYB domains, we aligned the basic region of the CoR2R3-MYB proteins, consisting of about 104 residues containing the R2 and R3 sequences (Figure 1A,B). The consensus of the R2R3 domain was highly conserved to that of Arabidopsis, and only eight amino acid residues were different [5]. Consistent with the results of other species, both R2 and R3 repeats contained regularly spaced and highly conserved triple tryptophan residues (W) in CoR2R3-MYBs (Figure 1B,C), which were important in maintaining the HTH structure (Figure 1C). In R3 repeats, the first W residue (position 59) was usually substituted by phenylalanine (F). In addition, we found other conserved amino acid residues in CoR2R3-MYBs in R2 repeats (Figure 1A) and R3 repeats (Figure 1B). Among them, three conserved amino acid residues were located between the first and second W residues, and six were located between the second and third W residues in R2 repeats (Figure 1A). One conserved amino acid residue was located between the first and second W residues, and five were located between the second and third W residues in the R3 repeats (Figure 1B). We used the homology modeling method to reveal the three-dimensional structure of the CoR2R3-MYB consensus and found that both R2 and R3 formed the typical HTH structure (Figure 1C). This confirmed the conservation of HTH formed by the second helix and third helix in the DNA recognition domains of MYB proteins.

3.4. Gene Structure Analysis of CoR2R3-MYBs

These R2R3-MYBs were divided into six categories: including one, two, three, four, five, and twenty-one exons, respectively (Figure S1, Tables S4 and S5). The majority of CoR2R3-MYB genes (88 in total) had three exons (Table S5). We found that the length of these exons is highly conserved, and most of them are between 0 and 500 bp (Figure 2A). However, the intron length was highly variable (Figure 2B and Figure S1D). The length of most introns ranged from 0 to 4000 bp, with a small number of introns ranging from 4000 bp to 8000 bp, and only one intron exceeding 8000 bp (Figure 2B).
Although the length of these introns varied, their number, position, and phase were largely conserved. We divided the CoR2R3-MYB genes into 11 patterns (A-K) according to their number, position, and phase of introns in the DNA binding domains (Figure 2C and Table S6). We found that except for eight CoR2R3-MYBs in which the DNA binding domains had no introns (pattern A), all other CoR2R3-MYB DNA binding domains displayed different intron distribution patterns (Figure 2C). The intron phase determines which exons may or may not be targeted for alternative splicing [48]. Exons flanked by two introns of the same phase, including the pattern I and J, may undergo alternative splicing (Figure 2C). The pattern H was the most common intron distribution pattern (57.03%) (Figure 2C), which included exons flanked by two introns of different phases (Figure 2C), and alternative splicing of this pattern could result in premature stop-codons.

3.5. Promoter Cis-Acting Elements Analysis of CoR2R3-MYBs

We intercepted the two kb upstream region of the coding sequences (CDS) of each CoR2R3-MYBs as the promoter region to predict the cis-acting elements. Additionally, we classified these cis-acting elements into 27 categories (Figure 3A), which were involved in the development, phytohormone response, and environmental response (Figure S2). Among them, the number of light response elements was the largest (Figure 3A). In addition, we found many MYB binding sites in the promoters of these R2R3-MYBs, including the MYB binding site involved in flavonoid biosynthetic genes regulation, light responsiveness, and drought response (Figure S2).
To understand the regulatory function of the CoR2R3-MYB genes, we divided the promoter region into four sections, starting from the five prime ends, which were 0–499 bp, 500–999 bp, 1000–1499 bp, and 1500–2000 bp, respectively, and analyzed the distribution of cis-acting elements in each region. We found that the light response elements were the largest in all regions (Figure 3B). The cis-acting elements of various hormone responses are less distributed between 1000 and 1499 bp. However, various growth and development-related cis-acting elements were enriched in the range of 1000–1499 bp (Figure 3B). Additionally, the stress response cis-acting elements were enriched at 500–999 bp and 1500–2000 bp regions. MYB binding sites are enriched at 1000–1499 bp and 1500–2000 bp (Figure 3B).

3.6. Chromosomal Location and Synteny Analysis

Chromosomal localization analysis showed that CoR2R3-MYBs were distributed on all 15 chromosomes of the C. oleifera genome (Figure 4). In addition, two R2R3-MYB genes were distributed in the scaffold (Table S7). The CoR2R3-MYB genes were renamed CoMYB1 to CoMYB128 based on their position on the 15 chromosomes and scaffold (Table S7). We found some CoR2R3-MYB genes are tightly packed in some regions of chromosomes (Figure 4). We further determined that some of these genes evolved from tandem duplication events within local chromosomes. There are four tandem duplication events in three chromosomes, containing 11 CoR2R3-MYB genes (Figure 4).
To further explore the potential evolutionary mechanism of the CoR2R3-MYBs, an intra-species collinearity analysis of C. oleifera was carried out. In the C. oleifera genome, a total of 393 segmental duplication events occurred, and 49 syngeneic CoR2R3-MYB gene pairs were involved (Figure S3; Table S8). To explore the evolutionary driving force of the CoR2R3-MYB genes, we also analyzed the non-synonymous and synonymous substitution rates (Ka and Ks) of the CoR2R3-MYB syngeneic gene pairs in the collinear region. The results showed that the Ka/Ks ratio was much less than 1 (Table S8), indicating that the evolution of CoR2R3-MYB genes was mainly driven by purification selection.
Furthermore, we performed the collinearity analysis of C. oleifera with two other representative species, including Arabidopsis and poplar (Figure S4). We found that the number of orthologous R2R3-MYB gene pairs between C. oleifera and Arabidopsis was 54 (Figure S4A and Table S9). Additionally, there are 92 orthologous R2R3-MYB gene pairs between C. oleifera and poplar (Figure S4B and Table S9). Some of these R2R3-MYB genes (52 CoR2R3-MYBs) were collinear with both Arabidopsis and poplar (Table S9), suggesting that these syntenic gene pairs may have existed before ancestral divergence. Notably, we found some syntenic gene pairs (two CoR2R3-MYB genes) in C. oleifera and Arabidopsis were not present in C. oleifera and poplar (Table S9), suggesting that these orthologous gene pairs maybe not conserved during the evolutionary process. Additionally, some syntenic gene pairs (40 CoR2R3-MYB genes) were found in C. oleifera and poplar (Table S9), which did not exist in C. oleifera and Arabidopsis. These syntenic gene pairs may have emerged after the divergence of herbaceous and woody plants in the process of evolution.

3.7. Phylogenetic Analysis

The phylogenetic tree of 126 Arabidopsis R2R3-MYBs, 128 Camellia R2R3-MYBs, and 5 “Landmark” MYB transcription factors in other species were constructed using the maximum likelihood method. Phylogenetic trees were grouped according to the unique conserved motifs of 25 subgroups of Arabidopsis R2R3-MYBs (Table 2) [5]. Compared with A. thaliana, we found that six subgroups of C. oleifera expanded, fourteen subgroups contracted, and five subgroups neither expanded nor contracted (Table S10). We also observed “species-specific” clades containing only C. oleifera or A. thaliana R2R3-MYB proteins. That implied ancestral gene duplication and loss events. One clade (between S2 and S16) contains only R2R3-MYBs of C. oleifera (Figure 5 and Figure S5), which suggests that proteins in the clade may have specialized functions that are either lost in Arabidopsis or acquired after divergence from the last common ancestor. five subgroups (S3, S10, S12, S15, S19) do not contain any CoR2R3-MYBs (Figure 5 and Figure S5).

3.8. Expression Analysis of CoR2R3-MYBs Genes during Seed Development

To investigate the expression pattern of the CoR2R3-MYB genes in C. oleifera, the transcriptional abundances of the CoR2R3-MYB genes at different seed development stages were studied using RNA-Seq. Of the 128 CoR2R3-MYB genes, 100 genes were lowly expressed (FPKM ≤ 10) or undetectable in at least 90% of the samples, and 28 genes were highly expressed (FPKM >10) in more than 10% of the samples (Table S11). Of the 28 genes, the expressions of 18 genes gradually decreased with the increase in oil content (Figure 6). On the contrary, two genes (CoMYB2 and CoMYB61) were highly expressed at stage T5, when the oil content was highest (Figure 6). In addition, one gene (CoMYB106) was expressed uniformly in five stages, five genes (CoMYB54, CoMYB60, CoMYB89, CoMYB90, CoMYB103) were highly expressed at T2 and T3 stages, one gene (CoMYB118) was highly expressed at the T4 stage, and one gene (CoMYB41) was highly expressed only at the T1 stage (Figure 6).
We evaluated the functions of AtMYBs that are homologous or representative in the same subgroup in the phylogenetic tree to understand the potential functions of these genes (Table 3). We classified the functions of these genes into three categories: lipid metabolism-related processes, developmental processes, and stress-related processes (Table 3). AtMYB89, in the S21 subgroup, significantly inhibited seed FA accumulation by regulating WRI1 and BCCP1, suggesting that CoMYB46 and CoMYB47 in the same subgroup might also perform the same function [13]. Together with CoMYB45, CoMYB60, CoMYB70, and CoMYB85, AtMYB30, and AtMYB96 in subgroup S1 regulate the biosynthesis of the VLCFAs [21,49]. AtMYB123 in the same subgroup as CoMYB67 inhibits seed FA biosynthesis by targeting FUS3 [24]. AtMYB118, belonging to the same subgroup as CoMYB89 and CoMYB90, negatively regulates FA biosynthesis in the endosperm by repressing maturation-related genes [25].

3.9. Gene Co-Expression Network Underlying the Seed Development

We performed WGCNA to determine the genes associated with lipid metabolism or seed maturation [43]. A total of 10 gene modules were identified and labeled with different colors (Figure S6A). The number of genes in these modules ranged from 74 to 6863 (Table S12). We correlated these modules with five seed development stages with different oil content (Figure S6B). Among them, red and turquoise modules had a high correlation with oil content (Figure S6B), suggesting that they played an important role in the oil content of C. oleifera seeds. Next, we analyzed turquoise modules with a large number of genes. In this module, there were 17 CoR2R3-MYB genes (Table S13). Additionally, the kME value greater than 0.9 was considered as the hub gene. As a result, eight CoR2R3-MYB genes were identified as hub genes. Then, their co-expressed genes (weight > 0.3) were detected. We found no co-expressed genes with a weight value greater than 0.3 in CoMYB45, and CoMYB109 had the most co-expressed genes (487) (Table S14 and Figure 7A). Thus, we constructed a gene co-expression network using the seven CoR2R3-MYB genes and their co-expression genes (Figure 7A).
To understand the biological function of genes, we performed a GO enrichment analysis on these genes. Among the top five terms with the smallest p-values of the three parts of GO, we found that genes related to lipid binding were significantly enriched, as well as items related to the biological processes necessary for life, chromatin assembly, and nucleosome assembly (Figure S6C). Swiss-Prot annotations were also performed to understand the function of these co-expressed genes in more detail. Among these co-expressed genes, at least 13 genes were found to be related to lipid metabolism or seed maturation (Figure 7A), including CAC3, encoding the α subunit of the acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) which is the first enzyme in the fatty acid synthesis pathway [61]. Among them, nine genes had the same expression pattern as CoR2R3-MYB hub genes, and four had the opposite expression pattern (Figure 7B). We detected cis-acting elements in the promoter regions of these genes and found that six genes had MYB binding sites (Figure 7C).

4. Discussion

The MYB is one of the most important transcription factor families in plants. Camellia oil is a high-quality seed oil beneficial to human health, with the reputation of “Oriental olive oil” [28]. In our study, a total of 186 MYB genes (44 1R-MYBs, 128 R2R3-MYBs, 5 3R-MYBs, and 9 “Unusual” MYBs) were identified from the genome of C. oleifera (Table 1). Consistent with the results of Arabidopsis and poplar, the CoR2R3-MYB subfamily was the largest subfamily of the MYB gene family (Table 1) [5,6]. Sequence and gene structure analysis of CoR2R3-MYB DNA-binding domains showed that the domain of R2R3-MYB was highly conserved (Figure 1 and Figure 2). However, the C-terminal amino acid sequence was varied (Figure S1). These results suggested the conservation of the N-terminal R2R3-MYB domain which was a DNA-binding domain and the diversity of C-terminal activation or inhibition domains which endowed MYB members with a variety of regulatory functions. Although the C-terminal amino acid sequence is varied, these regions still have conserved motifs that may confer additional functions on the protein. One statement is that their position and conserved motifs in the C-terminal may play an important role in determining their binding properties and performing specific functions [62]. Previous studies in Arabidopsis have supported this statement: GL1 was required to initiate trichrome differentiation in Arabidopsis [63]. The protein encoded by the gl1–2 alleles did not have the corresponding function, because gl1–2 lacked that conserved motif compared with GL1 [63].
Therefore, we grouped the phylogenetic trees according to the unique conserved motifs at the C-terminal (Figure 5), and the genes in the same subgroup may play the same function. We found that the S25 subgroup of C. oleifera was expanded (Figure 5 and Table S10). It was interesting that tandem replication events occurred in five genes of this subgroup (Figure 4). Additionally, AtMYB118 of this subgroup negatively regulates the biosynthesis of endosperm FA by inhibiting mature-related genes [25]. Thus, these genes might be evolved due to the adaptation to the properties of C. oleifera and are associated with Camellia oil biosynthesis. We also observed “species-specific” clades containing only C. oleifera or A. thaliana R2R3-MYB proteins. One clade (between S2 and S16) contains only R2R3-MYBs of C. oleifera (Figure 5). It is important to note that we use the term “species-specific” in the context of a group of species whose genomes are currently sequenced. More genome sequences are needed to determine the presence and absence of the clade at the genus level [64]. If the clade was obtained during the divergence of the most recent common ancestor, the clade can be described as a lineage-specific expansion of C. oleifera, reflecting a species-specific adaptation.
Based on the RNA-seq data, we analyzed the expression patterns of 128 CoR2R3-MYBs at five different stages of seed development (Figure 6). Of the 128 CoR2R3-MYB genes, 28 genes were determined as highly expressed during seed development. We found that their expression patterns can be roughly divided into four categories: one was a high expression in the early stage of seed development and a low expression in the late stage (Figure 6); one was a high expression in the late stage of seed development and low expression in the early stage (Figure 6); one was a high expression in the middle stage of seed development, low expression in early and late stage (Figure 6); one was expressed uniformly in five stages (Figure 6). Among them, the number of the first type is the largest (including 18 genes), and with the development of the seed, the expression level gradually decreased (Figure 6). Interestingly, in these genes, together with CoMYB46 and CoMYB47, AtMYB89 in the S21 subgroup significantly inhibited seed FA accumulation by regulating WRI1 and BCCP1 [13]. Together with CoMYB45, CoMYB70, and CoMYB85, AtMYB30 and AtMYB96 in subgroup S1 regulate the biosynthesis of the VLCFAs [21,49]. Together with CoMYB67, AtMYB123 (TT2) inhibits seed FA biosynthesis by targeting FUS3 [24]. This may suggest that these CoR2R3-MYBs may play a negative regulatory role during seed maturation.
Using WGCNA, we constructed a gene co-expression network using the seven CoR2R3-MYB genes and their co-expression genes. Interestingly, we found that the number of co-expressed genes of CoMYB109 was significantly higher than that of several other CoR2R3-MYB genes (Table S13). These results suggested that CoMYB109 might play an important role in seed maturation or lipid metabolism. We annotated the co-expressed genes and found that at least 13 of them were associated with lipid metabolism or seed maturation (Figure 7A). Among them, nine genes had the same expression pattern as the CoR2R3-MYB hub genes, and three genes had the opposite expression pattern as the CoR2R3-MYB hub genes (Figure 7B). Cis-acting elements were detected in the promoter region of these genes and six genes were found to have MYB binding sites (Figure 7C). Therefore, we proposed that MYB may regulate these genes through binding to the cis-acting elements of the promoter regions of these genes to affect lipid metabolism or seed maturation.

5. Conclusions

This study was the first report of the comprehensive analysis of the CoR2R3-MYB subfamily based on the C. oleifera genome. A total of 128 CoR2R3-MYB genes were obtained from the C. oleifera genome. These CoR2R3-MYB genes were distributed on all 15 chromosomes and have conserved R2 and R3 repeats. Tandem duplication and synteny analysis showed that tandem duplication and segmental duplication played an important role in gene family expansion. Promoter detection revealed cis-acting elements involved in various reactions. The possible functional role of the CoR2R3-MYBs was predicted based on its phylogenetic tree. In addition, the expression of CoR2R3-MYBs was diverse during seed development. Finally, we identified seven CoR2R3-MYB genes and six putative downstream genes of them that may play important roles in seed development and lipid metabolism. These results have an important reference value for the functional identification of R2R3-MYBs and genetic improvement of seed oil in C. oleifera.

Supplementary Materials

The following supporting information can be downloaded at: https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/horticulturae8080742/s1, Figure S1: Phylogenetic relationships, motif pattern, domain pattern, and gene structure of R2R3-MYB transcription factors in C. oleifera; Figure S2: Predicted cis-acting elements of promoters of 128 R2R3-MYB genes in C. oleifera; Figure S3: Schematic diagram of the colinear relationship within C. oleifera; Figure S4: Synteny analyses of the C. oleifera with Poplar and Arabidopsis; Figure S5. Phylogenetic tree of R2R3-MYB transcription factors from C. oleifera, A. thaliana, and five other species; Figure S6: Weighted gene co-expression network analysis of (WGCNA) of transcriptome and GO enrichment of 7 CoMYB genes and their co-expression genes; Table S1: The CoMYBs; Table S2: The nine unusual CoMYBs; Table S3: 128 CoR2R3-MYBs information; Table S4: Motifs of CoR2R3-MYB transcription factors; Table S5: Exon numbers within CoR2R3-MYBs; Table S6: Intron distribution patterns within CoR2R3-MYB DNA-binding domains; Table S7: Chromosomal location; Table S8: syngeneic R2R3-MYB gene pairs and KaKs values in C. oleifera; Table S9: syngeneic CoR2R3-MYB genes in C. oleifera with Arabidopsis and poplar; Table S10: The number of the R2R3-MYB members in subgroups; Table S11: The expression patterns of CoR2R3-MYBs (FPKM) at five different stages during seed development; Table S12: Module information; Table S13: Module turquoise_MYB hub gene_by_GS > 0.5&kME > 0.5; Table S14: Co-expression genes of 7 CoR2R3-MYBs.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, H.Y.; methodology, S.L.; validation, H.H., X.M. and Z.H.; resources, J.L.; writing—original draft preparation, S.L.; writing—review and editing, H.Y.; supervision, H.Y.; funding acquisition, H.Y. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research was supported by the Zhejiang Science and Technology Major Program on Agricultural New Variety Breeding (2021C02070-1) and Nonprofit Research Projects (CAFYBB2021QD001) of the Chinese Academy of Forestry.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

Not applicable.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Abbreviations

CDDConserved domain database
GOGene ontology
MeJAMethyl jasmonate
MEMEMultiple em for motif elicitation
PfamDatabase of protein families
PlantCAREPlant cis-acting regulatory elements database
SMARTSimple modular architecture research tool

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Figure 1. Sequence conservation and three-dimensional structure of 128 R2R3-MYB domains of C. oleifera. (A) Conservation of R2 repeats in all 128 R2R3-MYBs of C. oleifera. (B) Conservation of R3 repeats in all 128 R2R3-MYBs of C. oleifera. N and C on the horizontal axis represent the N-terminal and C-terminal; numbers represent locations. The bit score on the vertical axis represents how conservative each position in the sequence is, and the higher it is, the more conservative it is. Arrowheads indicate the typical, conserved tryptophan residues (W). The dots represent other conserved amino acid residues. (C) Three-dimensional structure of consensus sequences of all 128 R2R3-MYBs of C. oleifera. HTH stands for the helix-turn-helix structure.
Figure 1. Sequence conservation and three-dimensional structure of 128 R2R3-MYB domains of C. oleifera. (A) Conservation of R2 repeats in all 128 R2R3-MYBs of C. oleifera. (B) Conservation of R3 repeats in all 128 R2R3-MYBs of C. oleifera. N and C on the horizontal axis represent the N-terminal and C-terminal; numbers represent locations. The bit score on the vertical axis represents how conservative each position in the sequence is, and the higher it is, the more conservative it is. Arrowheads indicate the typical, conserved tryptophan residues (W). The dots represent other conserved amino acid residues. (C) Three-dimensional structure of consensus sequences of all 128 R2R3-MYBs of C. oleifera. HTH stands for the helix-turn-helix structure.
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Figure 2. Distribution of exon length, distribution of intron length, and distribution patterns of introns in the DNA binding domain of CoR2R3-MYBs. (A) Distribution of exon length. (B) Distribution of intron length. The green line is the density of the distribution. (C) A total of 11 distribution patterns, named A to K. Triangles and numbers represent the positions and splicing phases of introns (0, phase 0; 1, phase 1; 2, phase 2), respectively. The horizontal bars in different colors represent the MYB DNA-binding domain in different patterns. The number of introns in each pattern is shown on the left. The number and percentage of CoMYBs in each pattern are shown on the right.
Figure 2. Distribution of exon length, distribution of intron length, and distribution patterns of introns in the DNA binding domain of CoR2R3-MYBs. (A) Distribution of exon length. (B) Distribution of intron length. The green line is the density of the distribution. (C) A total of 11 distribution patterns, named A to K. Triangles and numbers represent the positions and splicing phases of introns (0, phase 0; 1, phase 1; 2, phase 2), respectively. The horizontal bars in different colors represent the MYB DNA-binding domain in different patterns. The number of introns in each pattern is shown on the left. The number and percentage of CoMYBs in each pattern are shown on the right.
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Figure 3. Prediction of the cis-acting elements of promoters of 128 R2R3-MYB genes in C. oleifera. (A) The stacked bar chart represents the sum of the cis-acting elements in each category. (B) Statistical analysis of 27 categories of cis-acting elements in 4 regions of promoters (0–499 bp, 500–999 bp, 1000–1499 bp, and 1500–2000 bp). The colors and numbers in the grid indicate the number of these cis-acting elements in the region. The darker the red color in the grid, the greater the number of cis-acting elements in that region than in other regions.
Figure 3. Prediction of the cis-acting elements of promoters of 128 R2R3-MYB genes in C. oleifera. (A) The stacked bar chart represents the sum of the cis-acting elements in each category. (B) Statistical analysis of 27 categories of cis-acting elements in 4 regions of promoters (0–499 bp, 500–999 bp, 1000–1499 bp, and 1500–2000 bp). The colors and numbers in the grid indicate the number of these cis-acting elements in the region. The darker the red color in the grid, the greater the number of cis-acting elements in that region than in other regions.
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Figure 4. Chromosomal distribution of 128 CoR2R3-MYB genes. Each vertical bar represents one chromosome. The chromosome name is shown at the top of each chromosome. For clarity, we renamed the chromosome name using Chr1-Chr15, based on the original chromosome ID (Table S7). The gene names in red text indicate tandem duplication. The scale on the left is measured in megabase (Mb).
Figure 4. Chromosomal distribution of 128 CoR2R3-MYB genes. Each vertical bar represents one chromosome. The chromosome name is shown at the top of each chromosome. For clarity, we renamed the chromosome name using Chr1-Chr15, based on the original chromosome ID (Table S7). The gene names in red text indicate tandem duplication. The scale on the left is measured in megabase (Mb).
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Figure 5. Phylogenetic tree of 128 R2R3-MYB transcription factors of C. oleifera. Different colored background colors and strips represent different subgroups. The text of the outermost wheel represents the names of the different subgroups.
Figure 5. Phylogenetic tree of 128 R2R3-MYB transcription factors of C. oleifera. Different colored background colors and strips represent different subgroups. The text of the outermost wheel represents the names of the different subgroups.
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Figure 6. Hierarchical clustering of the expression patterns of 28 R2R3-MYBs in C. oleifera at five different stages of seed development. Red means high expression, and blue means low expression. The five developmental stages of seeds were T1 (210 DAP, days after pollination), T2 (235 DAP), T3 (258 DAP), T4 (292 DAP), and T5 (333 DAP). The oil content gradually increased from T1 to T5 and reached the highest at T5.
Figure 6. Hierarchical clustering of the expression patterns of 28 R2R3-MYBs in C. oleifera at five different stages of seed development. Red means high expression, and blue means low expression. The five developmental stages of seeds were T1 (210 DAP, days after pollination), T2 (235 DAP), T3 (258 DAP), T4 (292 DAP), and T5 (333 DAP). The oil content gradually increased from T1 to T5 and reached the highest at T5.
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Figure 7. The co-expression network of 7 CoR2R3-MYB genes and expression patterns of 7 CoR2R3-MYB genes and their co-expressed genes related to lipid metabolism or seed maturation. (A) The co-expression network of 7 CoR2R3-MYB genes and their co-expression genes. Each dot represents a gene; the orange dots in the innermost circle represent the CoR2R3-MYB genes; the pink dots represent genes associated with seed maturation or lipid metabolism. (B) Expression patterns of 7 CoR2R3-MYB genes and their co-expressed genes related to lipid metabolism or seed maturation (homogenize by row). T1 (210 DAP), T2 (235 DAP), T3 (258 DAP), T4 (292 DAP), and T5 (333 DAP) represent five different stages of seed development, respectively. The oil content gradually increased from T1 to T5 and reached the highest at T5. (C) Prediction of cis-acting elements in the promoters of lipid metabolism or seed maturation-related genes containing MYB-binding elements. We selected promoters of genes with MYB binding elements in both databases (PlantCARE and Plant Transcription Factor database) for display. The MYB binding elements are indicated by arrows. The black arrow indicates that the element is from the PlantCARE database, the blue arrow indicates that the element is from the Plant Transcription Factor database, and the red arrow indicates that the element exists in both databases.
Figure 7. The co-expression network of 7 CoR2R3-MYB genes and expression patterns of 7 CoR2R3-MYB genes and their co-expressed genes related to lipid metabolism or seed maturation. (A) The co-expression network of 7 CoR2R3-MYB genes and their co-expression genes. Each dot represents a gene; the orange dots in the innermost circle represent the CoR2R3-MYB genes; the pink dots represent genes associated with seed maturation or lipid metabolism. (B) Expression patterns of 7 CoR2R3-MYB genes and their co-expressed genes related to lipid metabolism or seed maturation (homogenize by row). T1 (210 DAP), T2 (235 DAP), T3 (258 DAP), T4 (292 DAP), and T5 (333 DAP) represent five different stages of seed development, respectively. The oil content gradually increased from T1 to T5 and reached the highest at T5. (C) Prediction of cis-acting elements in the promoters of lipid metabolism or seed maturation-related genes containing MYB-binding elements. We selected promoters of genes with MYB binding elements in both databases (PlantCARE and Plant Transcription Factor database) for display. The MYB binding elements are indicated by arrows. The black arrow indicates that the element is from the PlantCARE database, the blue arrow indicates that the element is from the Plant Transcription Factor database, and the red arrow indicates that the element exists in both databases.
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Table
Table 1. Numbers of MYB transcription factors in three plant species.
Table 1. Numbers of MYB transcription factors in three plant species.
SpeciesR2R33R1R and MYB-Related“Unusual” MYB Genes with Two or More RepeatsTotalReference
A. thaliana1265642197[5]
P. trichocarpa19651521354[6]
C. oleifera1285449186This study.
Table
Table 2. Conserved motifs of subgroups.
Table 2. Conserved motifs of subgroups.
SubgroupConserved Motif
Subgroup1 (S1)YASS
Subgroup2 (S2)MxFW//SFW
Subgroup3 (S3)WFKHLESELGLEExDNQQQ
Subgroup4 (S4)LNL[E/D]L
Subgroup5 (S5)TKAxRC
Subgroup6 (S6)PRPRxF
Subgroup7 (S7)Sx(14)GRT
Subgroup8 (S8)LRKMGIDPLTHKPL
Subgroup9 (S9)AQWESARxxAExRLxR
Subgroup10 (S10)QxxAAAxxN//KxQLxHxMxQ//DDxxSDSxWK
Subgroup11 (S11)PRxDLLD
Subgroup12 (S12)[L/F]LN[K/R]VA
Subgroup13 (S13)GIDPxTHK[P/L]L[S/I]xx[E/G]
Subgroup14 (S14)R2R3: [W]-x(20)-[W]-x(19)-[W]-x(12)-[F]-x(18)-[W]-x(18)-[W]
Subgroup15 (S15)WVxxDxFELSxL
Subgroup16 (S16)PxLxFxEW
Subgroup17 (S17)QQ[F/E]QQ
Subgroup18 (S18)GLPxYP
Subgroup19 (S19)PxLxFSEW
Subgroup20 (S20)WxPRL
Subgroup21 (S21)FxDFL
Subgroup22 (S22)QEMIxxEVRSYM
Subgroup23 (S23)RVxRxxxF//PxxGxxGC
Subgroup24 (S24)QxGxDPxTH
Subgroup25 (S25)LxxYIxxxN
Assign subgroups as previously reported in Arabidopsis. However, some motifs were reinterpreted, and some of the previously defined subgroups were not obvious, because we comprehensively considered both Arabidopsis and Camellia R2R3-MYB genes. “x” represents any amino acid residue; the numbers in “()” represent the number of amino acid residues; the letters in “[]” represent amino acid residues in the same position; “/” stands for “or”; “//” stands for “and”.
Table
Table 3. The biological processes or potential functions that 28 CoR2R3-MYBs are involved in.
Table 3. The biological processes or potential functions that 28 CoR2R3-MYBs are involved in.
CoR2R3-MYBsSubgroupRepresentative within a Subgroup or Most Homologous R2R3-MYB Genes of Arabidopsis ThalianaFunction or Biological Process of AtMYBsReference
CoMYB46; CoMYB47S21AtMYB89; AtMYB110Inhibit seed FA accumulation by regulating WRI1, BCCP1[13]
CoMYB67S5AtMYB123Inhibit seed FA biosynthesis[24]
CoMYB85; CoMYB45; CoMYB60; CoMYB70S1AtMYB30; AtMYB96Regulate VLCFAs Biosynthesis[21,49]
CoMYB89; CoMYB90S25AtMYB118; AtMYB119Negatively regulate FA biosynthesis in the endosperm[25]
CoMYB68NoneAtMYB26Male sterility[50]
CoMYB5; CoMYB50NoneAtMYB5Control outer seed coat differentiation[51,52]
CoMYB109; CoMYB3S13AtMYB61Mucilage deposition; lignin biosynthesis[53,54]
CoMYB116S23AtMYB1Upregulate Tapetum-specific promoter A9 activity[55]
CoMYB74; CoMYB118NoneAtMYB99Unknown-
CoMYB106; CoMYB119S18AtMYB33; AtMYB65Stamen development; leaf development[56]
CoMYB41S17AtMYB71; AtMYB79Unknown-
CoMYB103; CoMYB54S4AtMYB4Antioxidant defense[57]
CoMYB61S20AtMYB116; AtMYB62Phosphate starvation responses[58]
CoMYB18; CoMYB2; CoMYB81; CoMYB82; CoMYB17S22AtMYB44; AtMYB73Abiotic stress response[59,60]
“None” means not assigned to a subgroup. “-” means no relevant literature has been found. We classified the functions of these genes into three categories: lipid metabolism-related processes were indicated with an orange background, developmental processes were indicated with a blue background, and stress-related processes were indicated with a gray background.
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Li, S.; Huang, H.; Ma, X.; Hu, Z.; Li, J.; Yin, H. Characterizations of MYB Transcription Factors in Camellia oleifera Reveal the Key Regulators Involved in Oil Biosynthesis. Horticulturae 2022, 8, 742. https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae8080742

AMA Style

Li S, Huang H, Ma X, Hu Z, Li J, Yin H. Characterizations of MYB Transcription Factors in Camellia oleifera Reveal the Key Regulators Involved in Oil Biosynthesis. Horticulturae. 2022; 8(8):742. https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae8080742

Chicago/Turabian Style

Li, Sijia, Hu Huang, Xianjin Ma, Zhikang Hu, Jiyuan Li, and Hengfu Yin. 2022. "Characterizations of MYB Transcription Factors in Camellia oleifera Reveal the Key Regulators Involved in Oil Biosynthesis" Horticulturae 8, no. 8: 742. https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae8080742

APA Style

Li, S., Huang, H., Ma, X., Hu, Z., Li, J., & Yin, H. (2022). Characterizations of MYB Transcription Factors in Camellia oleifera Reveal the Key Regulators Involved in Oil Biosynthesis. Horticulturae, 8(8), 742. https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae8080742

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