Cloning and expression analysis of MYB transcription factor genes in safflower / 药学学报

ABSTRACT

Safflower is a dried flower of the annual herbaceous plant safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.). As a traditional Chinese medicine, it was widely used in the regulation of blood circulation. Flavonoids are the main active ingredients in safflower. MYB transcription factors are involved in the regulation of flavonoids. The cloning and expression analysis of MYB transcription factor genes in safflower is of great significance, not only for clarifying the regulation mechanism of flavonoids biosynthesis in safflower, but also for the artificial regulation of flavonoid biosynthesis in safflower. Based on the transcriptome data, we used iTAK to annotate the MYB transcription factors in safflower. The MYB transcription factors were cloned and their sequences were analyzed. Besides, their expressions were analyzed by a Real-time PCR. In the experiment, eight long fragment MYB transcription factors were screened and six MYB transcription factors was successfully cloned, named CtMYB-TF1, CtMYB-TF2, CtMYB-TF4, CtMYB-TF5, CtMYB-TF6 and CtMYB-TF7, respectively. The six MYB transcription factors had the core domain of MYB transcription factor family, and evolutionary analysis showed that the CtMYB-TF7 transcription factor was closely related to the factors AtMYBL2 and AtMYB12. Expression analysis showed that the expression of CtMYB-TF5, CtMYB-TF6 and CtMYB-TF7 was low in roots, stems and leaves, and was high in the flower. The results provide a foundation for study of mechanism of molecular regulation of safflower flavonoids.