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Functional Plant Biology Functional Plant Biology Society
Plant function and evolutionary biology
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Molecular characterisation and expression analysis of NAC transcription factor genes in wild Medicago falcata under abiotic stresses

Liquan Zhang https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1910-4147 A B C , Xuhui Jia A , Jingwei Zhao A , Agula Hasi A and Yiding Niu A B C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Key Laboratory of Forage and Endemic Crop Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010070, P.R. China.

B State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Regulation & Breeding of Grassland Livestock, School of Life Sciences, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010070, P.R.China.

C Corresponding authors. Emails: zhangliquan430@126.com; ydniu@imu.edu.cn.

Functional Plant Biology 47(4) 327-341 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP19199
Submitted: 12 July 2019  Accepted: 19 November 2019   Published: 25 February 2020

Abstract

The No apical meristem–Arabidopsis transcription activation factor–Cup-shaped cotyledon (NAC) proteins play vital roles in plant development processes and responses to abiotic stress. In this study, 146 unigenes were identified as NAC genes from wild Medicago falcata L. by RNA sequencing. Among these were 30 full-length NACs, which, except for MfNAC63, MfNAC64 and MfNAC91, contained a complete DNA-binding domain and a variable transcriptional activation region. Sequence analyses of MfNACs along with their Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. counterparts allowed these proteins to be phylogenetically classified into nine groups. MfNAC35, MfNAC88, MfNAC79, MfNAC26 and MfNAC95 were found to be stress-responsive genes. The eight MfNAC genes that were chosen for further analysis had different expression abilities in the leaves, stems and roots of M. falcata. Additionally, their expression levels were regulated by salinity, drought and cold stress, and ABA. This study will be useful for understanding the roles of MfNACs in wild M. falcata and could provide important information for the selection of candidate genes associated with stress tolerance.

Additional keywords: abscisic acid stress, cold stress, drought stress, RNA sequencing, salt stress, stress response.


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