Comprehensive analysis of the laccase gene family in tea plant highlights its roles in development and stress responses.

backgroundLaccase (LAC) is the pivotal enzyme responsible for the polymerization of monolignols and stress responses in plants. However, the roles of LAC genes in plant development and tolerance to diverse stresses are still largely unknown, especially in tea plant (Camellia sinensis), one of the most economically important crops worldwide.

resultsIn total, 51 CsLAC genes were identified, they were unevenly distributed on different chromosomes and classified into six groups based on phylogenetic analysis. The CsLAC gene family had diverse intron-exon patterns and a highly conserved motif distribution. Cis-acting elements in the promoter demonstrated that promoter regions of CsLACs encode various elements associated with light, phytohormones, development and stresses. Collinearity analysis identified some orthologous gene pairs in C. sinensis and many paralogous gene pairs among C. sinensis, Arabidopsis and Populus. Tissue-specific expression profiles revealed that the majority of CsLACs had high expression in roots and stems and some members had specific expression patterns in other tissues, and the expression patterns of six genes by qRT‒PCR were highly consistent with the transcriptome data. Most CsLACs showed significant variation in their expression level under abiotic (cold and drought) and biotic (insect and fungus) stresses via transcriptome data. Among them, CsLAC3 was localized in the plasma membrane and its expression level increased significantly at 13 d under gray blight treatment. We found that 12 CsLACs were predicted to be targets of cs-miR397a, and most CsLACs showed opposite expression patterns compared to cs-miR397a under gray blight infection. Additionally, 18 highly polymorphic SSR markers were developed, these markers can be widely used for diverse genetic studies of tea plants.

conclusionsThis study provides a comprehensive understanding of the classification, evolution, structure, tissue-specific profiles, and (a)biotic stress responses of CsLAC genes. It also provides valuable genetic resources for functional characterization towards enhancing tea plant tolerance to multiple (a)biotic stresses.