Genome-wide identification of BnaLEA in rapeseed
A total of 148 LEA proteins were identified in the B. napus based on the BLASTP results of AtLEAs protein sequence and Hidden Mark Model, which were named as BnaLEA1 to BnaLEA148, respectively (Table.S1). Based on their conserved domain structures, the BnaLEA proteins were classified into eight families. Most proteins in the same subgroup had similar parameters. The 148 BnaLEA proteins encoded 57–298 amino acids (AA) with the CDS ranging from 174 bp (BnaLEA140) to 897 bp (BnaLEA19). The predicted molecular weights (Mw) of these BnaLEA proteins ranged from 6.61 KDa (BnaLEA140) to 33.66 KDa (BnaLEA19). In general, LEA proteins are relatively small, but some larger LEA proteins (~ 79.20 kDa) were found in the LEA_4 subgroup, which was consistent with the research on LEA proteins in Arabidopsis[37]. Approximately two-thirds of LEA proteins had relatively low isoelectric points (pI < 7.0), including the SMP, DHN, LEA_2, LEA_5 and LEA_6 subgroups, the remaining proteins, particularly those in LEA_1 and LEA_3 subgroups, had pI > 7.0. The calculated grand range average of hydropathy index (GRAVY) values of all BnaLEAs ranged from − 1.893 to 0.093. GRAVY values of 141 BnaLEA proteins (95%) were below 0, suggesting that most of the BnaLEAs were hydrophilic. The predicted subcellular localizations of these proteins revealed that most of LEA proteins may be in nucleus (100 members), while few members were in mitochondrion (13), plasma membrane (14), chloroplast (3) or extracellular space (18).
Phylogenetic analysis
A phylogenetic tree (Fig. 1) was generated using the sequences of 199 LEA proteins from B. napus (148) and Arabidopsis (51). Consistent with previous studies[38], the LEA proteins were divided into eight groups. The LEA_4 subgroup was the largest, with 52 members which were mainly clustered in 3 branches. The LEAs of LEA_2 was clustered into 2 branches and the LEAs of LEA_1, LEA_3, LEA_5, LEA_6, SMP and DHN were clustered into a separate branch. However, AT3G17520, which contained a LEA_4 domain, clustered into another clade, closer to the LEA_6 family. All 51 AtLEAs were found to have orthologous genes in rapeseed, and most of them had only one to five orthologous genes. There was an expansion of three AtLEAs (AT4G13560, AT3G22490/AT3G22500, and AT4G02380) in rapeseed and a complete duplication of three AtLEAs (AT2G46140, AT5G44310, and AT1G20450/AT1G20440) had six orthologous genes in rapeseed.
Motif analysis and gene structure analysis of LEAs
To explore the conserved LEAs motifs, five motifs were identified using MEME (Fig. S1). The result showed that the distribution patterns of these five motifs were similar in LEA members from same subgroup, such as LEA_1 (motif-2-1-4-3-5), LEA_5 (motif-2-5-3-1-4), DHN (motif-4-3-2-1-5), and SMP (motif-4-3-1-2-5), whereas in other subgroups, such as LEA_2, LEA_4, and LEA_6, although the distribution patterns of motifs varied among the different members, the distribution of AtLEAs and their orthologous BnaLEAs were similar.
To investigate the structural characteristics of BnaLEA genes, the exon-intron structure (Fig.S2 and Table S1) of BnaLEA genes were analyzed. The results showed that all LEA_6 subgroup genes had no intron (except BnaLEA36), all LEA_5 subgroup genes and most of LEA_1, LEA_3 and DHN subgroup genes had 2 exons, LEA_2, LEA_4 and SMP genes had 1 to 4 exons.
Cis -regulatory elements analysis of the BanLEA promotors
To understand the potential regulatory mechanisms of BnaLEAs, cis-regulatory elements were analyzed using PlantCARE. A total of 4097 elements were predicted in the promoters of 148 BnaLEAs. There are 1550, 2244, 120 and 183 cis-regulatory elements related to plant hormone response, environmental stress response, organ development, and transcription-factor binding sites, respectively (Fig. S3 and Table S2). Among them, the light-responsive, ABA-responsive, and MeJA-responsive cis-regulatory elements were the top three. The result indicated that most BnaLEAs could be regulated by various plant hormones and environmental stresses in rapeseed.
Expression profiling of the BnaLEA genes in different tissues and under abiotic
stress and phytohormone treatments
To investigate the expression patterns of the BnaLEA genes, their expression patterns in five different tissues/organs of rapeseed (root, stem, leaf, seed, and silique), under stresses (salt, drought, freezing, cold, heat, and osmotic), and phytohormone treatments (indole-3-acetic acid, IAA; 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid, ACC; gibberellic acid, GA; abscisic acid, ABA; cytokinin, TZ; jasmonate, JA; and brassinolide, BL) were determined by analyzing RNA-Seq data (Table S3)[39]. Most of the BnaLEA genes (78/148) were highly expressed in mature seeds and lowly expressed in other tested tissues (Fig. 2), which is consistent with the characterization of LEA genes that accumulate in large amounts during the late stage of seed development[40]. Unexpectedly, most of the LEA_2, LEA_3 and DHN subgroup members, as well as BnaLEA39 and BnaLEA40 from LEA_6, were highly expressed across different vegetative and reproductive organs during different development stages (Fig. 2).
Members of the BnaLEA gene family exhibited similar expression patterns under different stresses in roots and leaves (Fig. 3, and Fig S4). The expression of most BnaLEA genes was up-regulated by salt stress, freezing stress, and osmotic stress. Additionally, some genes were particularly responsive to freezing stress. Examples included some members from the LEA_4 subgroup (BnaLEA57, BnaLEA58, and BnaLEA59), and the LEA_6 subgroup (BnaLEA39 and BnaLEA40). Less predictably, most LEA subgroup members showed slightly or no response to hormones-treatments in leaves (99/148) and roots (76/148) (Fig. 4 and Fig S5). However, a few LEA subgroup members were strongly up-regulated induced by different hormones-treatments (Fold change > 2 and TPM > 1), and they exhibited distinct expression patterns in leaves and roots. Specifically, in leaves, 5, 2, 5, 10, 0, 4, 14 and 1 members of the LEA_1, LEA_2, LEA_3, LEA_4, LEA_5, LEA_6, DHN, and SMP subgroups, respectively, exhibited up-regulation in response to various hormone-treatments. conversely, in roots, 3, 2, 6, 19, 3, 5, 17, and 4 members of the LEA_1, LEA_2, LEA_3, LEA_4, LEA_5, LEA_6, DHN, and SMP subgroups, respectively, were up-regulated by hormone-treatments, with expression levels were generally higher in roots than in leaves. Notably, the LEA genes demonstrated a more pronounced response to ABA both in leaves and roots (Fig. 4 and Fig S5).
To validate the results of transcriptome data, we performed a qRT-PCR to detect the transcript levels of BnaLEA39 gene in different tissues (root, stem, leaf, and seed) of rapeseed and under freezing stress treatments (Fig. 5a, b). The BnaLEA39 gene was expressed in the roots, stems, and leaves of the plant, especially exhibiting high expression levels during 40 day-old seeds (Fig. 5a). Additionally, the expression of the BnaLEA39 gene was significantly up-regulated under freezing stress, with or without cold acclimation (Fig. 5b). These results implied that the BnaLEA39 gene may plays an important role in the growth, development, and response to freezing stress in rapeseed.
Overexpression of BnaLEA39 enhances freezing tolerance in rapeseed
To further investigate the function of the BnaLEA39 gene under freezing stress, we constructed a 35S:BnaLEA39 vector and obtained six BnaLEA39 overexpression lines in Zhongshuang-6. Among them, two lines (OE4 and OE5) with the highest expression were selected for freezing treatment (Fig. 6a, b). After freezing treatment at -3.5 ℃ for 2 hours, the BnaLEA39 overexpression lines showed only partial leaf icing and water-soaking, while most of the WT exhibited severe icing and water-soaking throughout the whole plant, accompanied by plant softening (Fig. 6a). Additionally, the relative electrical conductivity of the overexpression lines was significantly lower than that of the WT (Fig. 6c). Following seven days of recovery, the BnaLEA39 overexpression plants showed significantly better growth and higher survival rates compared to the WT plants (Fig. 6a, d). These results indicate that BnaLEA39 can enhance the freezing tolerance of rapeseed.