Genomic and Functional Insights into Gene Families for Stress Resilience and Development in Woody Plants

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Molecular Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2025 | Viewed by 554

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
School of Forestry, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China
Interests: plant molecular biology and genetics; stress response; genetic diversity; wood formation
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The growth of woody plants is determined by a complex interplay of stress. The functional characterization of gene families provides an overall understanding of their functions under different physiological conditions, thus providing valuable information concerning the candidate genes potentially associated with stress tolerance in woody plants. This Special Issue aims to present a collection of studies that highlight genomic and functional insights into the gene families associated with environmental adaptability for stress resilience and development in woody plants.

Dr. Jinhui Chen
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • woody plants
  • genomic and functional insights
  • gene families
  • stress resilience
  • adaptability

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

20 pages, 10606 KiB  
Article
Genome-Wide Analysis of NAC Transcription Factor Gene Family in Morus atropurpurea
by Yujie Yang, Meiyu He, Kaixin Zhang, Zeyang Zhai, Jialing Cheng, Yue Tian, Xu Cao and Li Liu
Plants 2025, 14(8), 1179; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14081179 - 10 Apr 2025
Viewed by 414
Abstract
The NAC (NAM/ATAF1/2/CUC2) transcription factors are pivotal regulators in plant development and stress responses. Despite the extensive studies on the NAC gene family across various plant species, the characterization of this gene family in mulberry (Morus atropurpurea) remains unexplored. Here, we [...] Read more.
The NAC (NAM/ATAF1/2/CUC2) transcription factors are pivotal regulators in plant development and stress responses. Despite the extensive studies on the NAC gene family across various plant species, the characterization of this gene family in mulberry (Morus atropurpurea) remains unexplored. Here, we conducted a genome-wide identification and characterization of the NAC gene family in M. atropurpurea. A total of 79 MaNAC genes were identified and classified into 20 subgroups, displaying an uneven distribution across the 14 chromosomes. The structural analysis found that most MaNAC genes possess at least three exons and contain the conserved NAC domain and characteristic motifs at the N-terminus. Eleven collinear gene pairs were identified in M. atropurpurea genome. Interspecies collinearity analysis demonstrated a closer evolutionary relationship between M. atropurpurea and Populus trichocarpa, supported by the identification of 116 collinear gene pairs. Expression profiling revealed dynamic changes in the transcript levels of most MaNAC genes during mulberry fruit maturation. Notably, the eight MaNAC members from the OsNAC7 subfamily exhibited tissue-specific expression patterns. A significant proportion of MaNAC genes displayed varying degrees of responsiveness to drought stress and sclerotium disease. MaNAC12, MaNAC32, MaNAC44 and MaNAC67 emerged as the most highly responsive candidates. Overexpression of MaNAC69 enhanced drought tolerance in Arabidopsis. These findings provide a robust foundation for future functional studies and mechanistic investigations into the roles of the NAC gene family in M. atropurpurea, offering insights into their contributions to development and stress adaptation. Full article
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