Welcome to Journal of Tea Science,Today is

Journal of Tea Science ›› 2025, Vol. 45 ›› Issue (1): 15-28.doi: 10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2025.01.004

• Research Paper • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Cloning of BZR1 Gene Family in Tea Plants and Molecular Mechanism Study of CsBZR1-5 Response to Drought Stress

DONG Yuan1, ZHANG Yongheng2, XIAO Yezi3, YU Youben3,*   

  1. 1. Yangling Vocational & Technical College, Yangling 712100, China;
    2. Tea Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou 310008, China;
    3. Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
  • Received:2024-11-19 Revised:2024-12-25 Online:2025-02-15 Published:2025-03-03

Abstract: The BZR1 transcription factor is a key transcription factor in the brassinosteroid (BR) signaling pathway, playing an important regulatory role in plant growth, development, and stress response. This study identified and cloned six members of the BZR1 family in tea plants based on genomic data. Their gene structures, subcellular localization of encoded proteins, and transcriptional activation activities were analyzed, and their expression patterns under different tissues and drought stress were explored. The results show that the number of introns in the 6 BZR1 members of tea plants was 2 or 3, and their encoded proteins all contained typical bHLH characteristic structural domains. Subcellular localization analysis shows that except for CsBZR1-1, which was localized in the cytoplasm and nucleus, all other CsBZR1s were localized in the nucleus. Transcriptional activation activity analysis shows that CsBZR1s exhibited transcriptional activation activity in yeast. The analysis of expression patterns in different tissues shows that CsBZR1s had specificity in expression in different tissues of tea plants, among which the expression patterns of CsBZR1-1 and CsBZR1-6 were relatively similar. The expression pattern analysis under drought stress shows that all six CsBZR1 genes were responsive to drought stress. The expression of CsBZR1-5 was continuously induced by drought stress simulated by PEG. In addition, the expression pattern of the key enzyme gene CsNCED1 in ABA synthesis pathway was highly similar to that of CsBZR1-5 under drought stress. The analysis of Electrophoretic Mobility Shift Assay (EMSA) found that CsBZR1-5 can bind to the E-box element on the CsNCED1 promoter, indicating that CsBZR1-5 may be involved in regulating the response of CsNCED1 to drought stress. This study systematically analyzed the basic characteristics and functions of six CsBZR1 members, laying the foundation for further elucidating the regulatory roles of CsBZR1 members in tea plant growth and development and drought stress response.

Key words: tea plant, CsBZR1s gene, subcellular localization, transcriptional self-activation, EMSA

CLC Number: