Background: As a ubiquitous acid-regulating protein family in eukaryotes, 14-3-3 proteins are widely involved in the growth and development of plants. With the development of the third-generation sequencing technology and the smooth completion of the cotton genome work, it is possible to explore the existence and distribution of the 14-3-3 protein family in cotton.
Results: In this paper, 33, 33, 17 and 18 members were identified from this family in Gossypium hirsutum((AD)1), G. barbadense((AD)2), G. arboreum(A2) and G. raimondii(D5), respectively. In particular, evolution analysis, structure analysis and functional expression analysis of this protein family in G. hirsutum((AD)1) were carried out. The results showed that compared with Arabidopsis and rice, the phylogenetic tree and gene structure clearly divided the 14-3-3 protein family into two subgroups in G. hirsutum((AD)1), the ε group and the non-ε group; Analysis of transcriptome expression patterns revealed that this family was significantly induced to express under abiotic stress; Most 14-3-3 proteins have a large number of cis-acting elements related to growth, development and abiotic stress in the promoter region, among which elements related to drought stress account for the largest proportion; The results of qRT-PCR showed that the expression of 14-3-3 protein had significant differences under drought stress.
Conclusions: In summary, this study signified that the 14-3-3 protein family is relatively conserved in the evolutionary expansion of cotton, and may be involved in the growth and development of plants and the mechanism of stress resistance. These results provide an important theoretical and experimental basis for further analysis and verification of the function of 14-3-3 protein in cotton.