Evolutionary analysis of ascorbate-glutathione cycle genes across green plants with lineage-specific profiling in grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.)

Abstract

Ascorbate-glutathione (AsA-GSH) cycle genes are vital for plant processes like stomatal regulation, nutrient uptake, and stress responses. However, the relationships between the origin and expansion of the AsA-GSH cycle genes and the adaptive evolution of land plants are still unclear. To investigate their evolutionary origins and functional differences, we first used phylogenetic and expression analyses of 2424 AsA-GSH genes (1059 APXs, 364 DHARs, 629 MDHARs, and 372 GRs) derived from 127 green plants to investigate their evolutionary history and functional divergence in green plants. The results highlighted a strong linkage between plant AsA-GSH cycle genes and their adaptation to environmental stress. In grapevine (Vitis vinifera), 16 AsA-GSH genes were identified and analyzed for gene structure, motifs, cis-regulatory elements, and transcription factors network. Gene expression profiling demonstrated their involvement in growth, hormonal regulation, and responses to biotic (Plasmopara viticola infection) and abiotic (cold, heat, salt, and drought) stresses. Functional validation showed that some of these grapevine genes, such as VvAPX6/7/8, VvDHAR1, VvMDHAR2, and VvGR2, are localized in diverse cellular compartments effectively mitigate oxidative stress through ROS scavenging. This study enhances our understanding of the evolutionary dynamics and functional diversification of AsA-GSH cycle genes in green plants, and the stress resilience in grapevine.

Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the Science and Technology Department of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (grant no. Gui Ke AB24010121), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 32272652), and the Science and Technology Department of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (grant no. 2022B02045-1-2).

Authors contributions

L.J.X. conceived the original research and performed bioinformatics analysis. X.M.H., Y.B.H., X.Z.Z., L.J.Q., Y.X.K., and F.P.N. contributed experimental assistance. L.J. designed the research project and managed the operation of experiments and data analysis. L.J.X. and L.J. drafted and revised the manuscript, with contributions from all authors. All authors read and approved the contents of this manuscript.

Data availability

The supporting data for this study can be found in the Supplementary materials. RNA-seq data have been deposited in CNGB (CNP0007884) and NCBI (PRJNA1157543).

Conflicts of interest statement

The authors declare no competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have influenced the results presented in this paper.

Supplementary material

Supplementary material is available at Horticulture Research online.

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