Comparative analysis of the SPL gene family in five Rosaceae species: Fragaria vesca, Malus domestica, Prunus persica, Rubus occidentalis, and Pyrus pyrifolia

Abstract

SQUAMOSA promoter-binding protein-like (SPL) transcription factors are very important for the plant growth and development. Here 15 RoSPLs were identified in Rubus occidentalis. The conserved domains and motifs, phylogenetic relationships, posttranscriptional regulation, and physiological function of the 92 SPL family genes in Fragaria vesca, Malus domestica, Prunus persica, R. occidentalis, and Pyrus pyrifolia were analyzed. Sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis showed the SPL proteins had sequence conservation, some FvSPLs could be lost or developed, and there was a closer relationship between M. domestica and P. pyrifolia, F. vesca and R. occidentalis, respectively. Genes with similar motifs clustering together in the same group had their functional redundancy. Based on the function of SPLs in Arabidopsis thaliana, these SPLs could be involved in vegetative transition from juvenile to adult, morphological change in the reproductive phase, anthocyanin biosynthesis, and defense stress. Forty-eight SPLs had complementary sequences of miR156, of which nine PrpSPLs in P. persica and eight RoSPLs in R. occidentalis as the potential targets of miR156 were reported for the first time, suggesting the conservative regulatory effects of miR156 and indicating the roles of miR156-SPL modules in plant growth, development, and defense response. It provides a basic understanding of SPLs in Rosaceae plants.

1. Introduction

SQUAMOSA promoter-binding protein-like (SPL) gene encodes plant-specific transcription factors in all green plants and cannot be found in prokaryotes, fungi, or animals. SPL protein contains the very conservative DNA-binding domain, namely the squamosa promoter binding protein (SBP) domain, consisting of ∼76 amino acid (aa) residues to carry out sequence-specific DNA binding and nuclear localization [1]. The SBP domain was composed of two zinc-binding sites (Cys–Cys–Cys–His and Cys–Cys–His–Cys) and a nuclear localization signal (NLS) partially overlapping with Cys–Cys–His–Cys [2]. Since 1996, SPL genes have been reported in many plants, such as Arabidopsis thaliana [3], rice [4], maize [5], Petunia [6], Dichanthelium oligosanthes [1], tea [7], Jatropha curcas[8], apple [9], pear [10], peach, and strawberry [11]. Plant genomes show remarkable variation in size and organization, as well as the number of SPLs. For example, 16 SPLs are identified in Arabidopsis genome [3], whereas 32 SPLs are present in the maize genome [5].

SPL genes are very important for plant growth and development, as they regulate the specific downstream gene expression, such as the phase transition from vegetative to reproductive, trichome development, leaf development, fruit ripening, pollen sac development, fertility, plant hormone signaling [11,12,13], toxin resistance [14], copper deficiency response [15], temperature, salinity, and drought stress tolerance [7,16]. In addition, SPLs are targeted by miR156 family members [17]. Their importance has been reported in multiple plant developmental processes. For example, in maize and Arabidopsis, the expression level of SPLs is reduced by miR156, which prolongs the juvenile phase in the miR156 mutation [18,19]; in rice, OsmiR156b or OsmiR156h regulates flowering time [4]; in Arabidopsis, overexpressing miR156 produces more lateral roots by repressing at least one representative from the SPL3, SPL9, and SPL10 [20]. The biosynthesis of anthocyanin in Arabidopsis is regulated by at least one miR156-targeted SPL factor, such as SPL9 [21]. These studies suggest the physiological significance and diversity of some SPLs in Arabidopsis and other model plants. However, the functions of most SPLs are needed to be investigated further in other plants.

The Rosaceae family includes many famous fruit-producing plant species, such as Malus, Pyrus, Prunus, Fragaria, and Rubus [22]. Thanks to the development of genome sequencing technology, genomes of some of these plants have been already published. This provides basic data for studying important functional genes at the genome-wide level. Previous studies showed that strawberry, apple, peach, and pear genomes have 14, 27, 17, and 19 SPLs, respectively [9,10,11,23]. However, no information about SPLs are available in black raspberry (Rubus occidentalis), a species of raspberry in the Rosaceae family. Here we identified the SPL genes in black raspberry and carried out phylogenetic analysis to study the evolution and function of SPL gene family in Fragaria vesca (strawberry), Malus domestica (apple), Prunus persica (peach), R. occidentalis (black raspberry), and Pyrus pyrifolia (pear) genomes. The feature of the conserved domain and the conserved motifs, the function of the miR156 target, and functional diversity of SPLs are also discussed. The results will provide an important theoretical basis for further exploring SPL family gene in Rosaceae plant species.

2. Materials and methods

2.1. SPL gene sequences in strawberry, apple, peach, black raspberry, and pear

First, the nucleotide and protein sequences of SPLs from Arabidopsis, F. vesca, M. domestica, and P. persica were obtained from the comparative genome database Phytozome v12.1 (https://phytozome.jgi.doe.gov/pz/portal.html). For P. pyrifolia, the sequences of SPLs were collected according to Qian et al. [10]. For R. occidentalis, the sequences of genome, coding sequence (CDS), and protein were obtained from GENOME DATABASE FOR ROSACEAE (https://www.rosaceae.org). Then, the analysis of AtSPL proteins against the downloaded CDS sequences of R. occidentalis was performed with tBLASTn with the E-value ≤ e ⁻¹⁰. According to the alignments between the candidate DNA sequences and SPL proteins from other plant species, gene models of RoSPLs were predicted via BLASTx.

2.2. Identification of conserved domains and motifs of SPL proteins

Conserved Domain Database (CDD, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Structure/cdd/wrpsb.cgi) was used to search for the SBP domain from all candidate protein sequences. Sequences containing the SBP domain were considered as SPL genes. The domain alignment was carried out using DNAMAN8 software (https://www.lynnon.com/). Sequence logos were created through WebLogo (http://weblogo.berkeley.edu/logo.cgi). Potential protein motifs were predicted by the MEME package (http://meme.sdsc.edu/meme/) with parameters as follows: zero and one per sequence, 20 as the maximum number of motifs and the minimum width of motif, and 160 as the maximum width of motif, an E-value ≤ e ⁻¹⁰.

2.3. SPL protein sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis

ClustalW in MEGA5.1 software (http://www.megasoftware.net) was used to align the full-length SPL protein sequences, and neighbor-joining method with P-distance model and 1,000 bootstrap values (>50%) in MEGA5.1 were used to construct the phylogenetic relationships.

2.4. Prediction of miR156 target genes

All mature sequences of miR156 from strawberry, apple, peach, and pear were obtained according to the previous reports [24,25,26,27]. For black raspberry, the mature sequences of miR156 genes were obtained according to ath-miR156 sequences against the downloaded genomic sequences of R. occidentalis using tBLASTn. Target sites in SPL genes were obtained in the five Rosaceae plants through the online psRNATarget server (http://plantgrn.noble.org/psRNATarget/) with default settings. The maximum expectation is 3.0, and the target site accessibility evaluation by calculating unpaired energy is 40.

3. Results

3.1. Genome-wide identification of RoSPL genes

Based on the genome of R. occidentalis, 15 SPL genes were identified and named from RoSPL1 to RoSPL15 with GenBank accession number MN245039–MN245053 (Table 1). The number of RoSPLs is similar to A. thaliana (16), rice (19), and D. oligosanthes (14), suggesting that similar duplication events of SPLs were present in these plant species. The predicted RoSPL proteins varied from 17.9 kDa (RoSPL13) to 221.233 kDa (RoSPL1) in molecular weight, from 157 aa (RoSPL13) to 1996 aa (RoSPL1) in amino acid length, and from 5.98 (RoSPL2) to 9.22 (RoSPL10) in isoelectric point.

Table 1.

Sequence features of the SPL gene family members in R. occidentalis

Gene name	GenBank accession	Scaffold	ORF (bp)	aa Length	pI	M w (kDa)
RoSPL1	MN245039	Ro04_G21525	5,991	1,996	6.2	221.233
RoSPL2	MN245040	Ro04_G21525	3,048	1,015	5.98	112.195
RoSPL3	MN245041	Ro04_G07125	1,257	418	8	46.06
RoSPL4	MN245042	Ro03_G21167	594	197	8.93	21.996
RoSPL5	MN245043	Ro04_G02526	1,569	522	6.87	58.733
RoSPL6	MN245044	Ro05_G13862	3,225	1,074	8.71	119.015
RoSPL7	MN245045	Ro05_G03364	1,719	572	7.6	63.122
RoSPL8	MN245046	Ro04_G06346	2,463	820	6.4	91.644
RoSPL9	MN245047	Ro07_G24567	1,080	359	8.81	40.183
RoSPL10	MN245048	Ro06_G18927	1,128	375	9.22	40.209
RoSPL11	MN245049	Ro05_G01905	1,260	419	8.46	46.085
RoSPL12	MN245050	Ro04_G07111	915	304	8.81	33.554
RoSPL13	MN245051	Ro03_G33114	474	157	7.62	17.9
RoSPL14	MN245052	Ro06_G03784	1,206	401	8.97	44.863
RoSPL15	MN245053	Ro07_G24568	1,380	459	7.98	51.313

Note: ORF, open reading frame; aa, amino acids; pI, theoretical isoelectric point; M _w, molecular weight.

3.2. Phylogenetic relationships of SPL genes in strawberry, apple, peach, black raspberry, and pear

Phylogenetic construction of the full-length sequences of SPL proteins in the five species analyzed from Rosaceae family (Table S1) resulted in generally similar topologies. The 92 proteins were classified into 11 groups (Figure 1). Except for the G3 group, all groups had at least one SPL protein from the five Rosaceae species, indicating the conservation of SPLs across Rosaceae genomes. However, the numbers of SPLs in certain groups were distinct between species, indicating the diversity of SPLs in Rosaceae family. The numbers of SPL proteins in G5, G6, and G10 groups were greater than those in other groups, with a large portion of SPLs found in apple (Figure 1). G1 group with eight SPL proteins had three SPL proteins from apple as G6 and G10 groups, and one SPL protein from strawberry, peach, black raspberry, and pear, respectively. It indicated that these groups have undergone extensive expansion after the speciation of apple. G2 and G4 groups each contained seven SPL proteins, with the same number of proteins from strawberry, black raspberry, and pear, but varying number of proteins from apple and peach. G11 group with six SPL proteins had two proteins from apple and one from peach, pear, black raspberry, and strawberry, respectively. G3, G7, G8, and G9 groups were all composed of five proteins, with the smallest number of SPL proteins. In G7, G8 and G9 groups the number of proteins from strawberry:apple:peach:black raspberry:pear was distributed as 1:1:1:1:1, indicating that these SPLs belong to orthologous proteins. Except for G3 group, all SPL proteins in other groups existed in the form of homologous proteins with each member from the five Rosaceae plants, indicating that these SPLs from different plant species shared common ancestors. FvSPLs were missing in the G3 group, indicating that some FvSPLs may be lost or may be developed in Rosaceae species. In total, 32 homologous groups were identified (Table S2). According to the phylogenetic relationship, PpSPL2 and MdSBP17, RoSPL8 and PrpSPL3 from the G11 group were highly probable to be orthologous proteins (Figure 1). Moreover, the other 30 pairs of SPLs from G1 to G10 groups seemed to be orthologous proteins (Figure 1 and Table S2). It suggested that these proteins may have close genetic relationship and play similar roles to their pairwise protein in the same group. Among the 32 pairs of SPLs, 13 pairs of PpSPL/MdSBP and 9 pairs of RoSPL/FvSPL were found, indicating that there was a closer relationship between apple and pear and strawberry and black raspberry, respectively. The results support the classification of plants, where pear and apple are Maloideae in the family Rosaceae, and strawberry and black raspberry are Rosoideae Focke in the family Rosaceae.

Figure 1.

Phylogenetic analysis of SPL gene family in strawberry (FvSPL), apple (MdSBP), peach(PrpSPL), black raspberry (RoSPL), and pear (PpSPL). SPL genes containing complementary sequences to mature miR156 are marked with blue dots. MEGA5.1 with neighbor-joining (NJ) method was used to construct the phylogenetic tree.

Moreover, homologous comparisons of the 92 full-length SPL protein sequences revealed genes with more than 50% protein sequence identity in G1, G2, G4, G6, G7, G8, G9, and G11 groups, and genes with more than 25% protein sequence identity in G3, G5, and G10 groups (Figure 2). These comparison analyses suggested the closer evolutionary relationship of SPLs in G1, G2, G4, G6, G7, G8, G9, and G11 groups.

Figure 2.

Analysis of protein sequence identity.

3.3. Analysis of conserved domains and motifs in strawberry, apple, peach, black raspberry, and pear

The SBP domain of the 92 SPLs was shown through sequence analysis (Figure 3). The Zn1 and Zn2 were shown in the SBP domain. Zn1 is Cys3His-type (CCCH-type) in SPLs from G1 to G10 groups (Figure 3a); however, the His residue in Zn1 is changed into a Cys residue in the G11 group, which resulted in the CCCH change into CCCC in the G11 group (Figure 3b). Compared with Zn1, the C2HC of Zn2 is very conservative in all SPLs analyzed. Not only Zn1 and Zn2, in the C-terminus, the SBP domain contains a conservative NLS overlapping with Zn2 (Figure 3). These results indicated that the domain organization has been constructed in the five Rosaceae species. These SBP domain locations, Zn1 and Zn2 binding sites, and NLS site were considered to be significant for specific recognition and binding to cis-elements in the promoter of nuclear genes [1,2]. Moreover, 11 SPLs belonging to the G10 group contain an ANK-2 domain (Figure 4), which is associated with protein–protein interaction in plant cells [28]. This indicated that it was valuable for interacting with other proteins for the role of SPLs in the same group.

Figure 3.

Sequence logo of the SBP domain of SPLs in strawberry, apple, peach, black raspberry, and pear. Sequence logos were created through WebLogo (http://weblogo.berkeley.edu/logo.cgi). (a) Sequence logo of the SBP domain of SPLs in G1–G10 groups; (b) sequence logo of the SBP domain of SPLs in the G11 group. Two conserved Zn-finger structures and the NLS are indicated.

Figure 4.

Alignment of the ANK-2 domain. The domain alignment was carried out using DNAMAN8. The ANK-2 domain is the result of the analysis of the SBP domain in CDD (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Structure/cdd/wrpsb.cgi) and is indicated by solid lines.

In addition, conserved motifs could also play a part in the function of SPLs [4,29], although the significance of these motifs needs to be further investigated. Twenty motifs were identified (Figure 5 and Table S3). The number of motifs in each SPL varied from 1 to 14 (Figure 5). Motif 1 existed in all SPLs analyzed, which is exactly the SBP domain. Except for RoSPL3, PrpSPL12, and FvSPL13, motif 2 with SBP domain existed in almost all SPLs, and motif 9 existed in G1–G10 groups. While motifs 4, 7, 10, 13, and 15 were specific to the G10 group, motifs 14 and 17 were only in the G9 group, motifs 18 and 19 only existed in the G1 group, and motif 20 specifically existed in the G3 group. These groups with unique motifs could be valuable for specific roles of SPLs. In addition to these motifs, several motifs widely existed in more than one group, such as motif 3 found in G9, G10, and G11 groups; motif 5, 6, and 12 presented in G9 and G10 groups; motif 8 found in G1, G2, G4, and G5 groups; motif 11 found in G1, G2, and G10 groups; and motif 16 found in G3, G10, and G11 groups (Figure 5). These results indicated the conservation and diversity of SPLs. Moreover, SPLs in the same group with similar motif(s) probably have a similar biological function in the growth and development of plants. The specific and common motifs of SPLs indicated that their functions were diversified and conserved.

Figure 5.

Distribution of conserved motifs in SPLs. Motifs represented with boxes are predicted using MEME. The number in boxes (1–20) represents motif 1 to motif 20, respectively. Box size indicates the length of motifs.

3.4. Prediction of SPLs targeted by miR156 in Rosaceae

Some SPLs in Arabidopsis have been confirmed to have the complementary sites of miR156 in the coding regions or 3′-UTRs of AtSPLs, such as AtSPL2, AtSPL3, AtSPL4, AtSPL5, AtSPL6, AtSPL9, AtSPL10, AtSPL11, AtSPL13, and AtSPL15 [3,18,30]. To understand miR156-driven posttranscriptional regulation of SPLs in the five species analyzed from Rosaceae family, the coding region of all the 92 SPLs was searched for the targets of miR156. Totally, 48 SPLs were found for the potential targets of miR156, including 5 FvSPLs, 15 MdSBPs, 9 PrpSPLs, 8 RoSPLs, and 11 PpSPLs (Tables S4 and S5), and these genes were found to be clustered into G1, G2, G3, G4, G5, and G8 groups (Figure 1), indicating that the posttranscriptional regulation of SPLs by miR156 is conserved in analyzed Rosaceae species. Previous study showed that there were nine FvSPLs regulated by miR156, such as FvSPL1, FvSPL2, FvSPL6, FvSPL7, FvSPL8, FvSPL10, FvSPL11, FvSPL12, and FvSPL13, of which the locations of targets regulated by miR156 were in 3′-UTRs of FvSPL1, FvSPL2, and FvSPL11, and the aa length of FvSPL13 is different from ours [23]. Here only the coding regions of all SPL genes were used; therefore, only five FvSPLs targeted by miR156 were obtained. The number of target SPLs of miR156 in apple and pear confirmed the previous reports [9,10]. Here the nine PrpSPLs in peach and eight RoSPLs in black raspberry as the potential targets of miR156 were reported for the first time.

3.5. Function analysis of SPL genes in Rosaceae

Phylogenetic relationship is very useful in elucidating the evolution and function divergence of the SPL gene family. In Arabidopsis, the function of some SPLs has been proved. Therefore, according to the phylogenetic relationship of SPLs in Arabidopsis and the five species from Rosaceae family, we infer the function of some SPL genes in Rosaceae. Earlier studies have shown that AtSPL9 and AtSPL15 promote the phase transition from juvenile to adult [31,32], influence the development of abaxial trichomes on adult leaves [33], and regulate the flowering of plants under right conditions [31]. Here FvSPL10, RoSPL10, PpSPL13, PrpSPL16, PrpSPL17, MdSBP18, and PpSPL9 were clustered closely with AtSPL9 and AtSPL15 (Figure 6). Therefore, these genes may have the potential roles in phase transition from juvenile to adult, trichome development, and flowering time. In addition, PpSPL10 and PpSPL13 could interact with PpMYB10, which was significantly increased in the biosynthesis of anthocyanin in different developmental stages in Chinese sand pear [34], and PpSPL10 could form a complex with PpMYB10 [21]. MdSBP20 and PpSPL10 were clustered in a small branch of the phylogenetic tree (Figure 6), therefore, they may play a part in regulating anthocyanin biosynthesis. AtSPL13 also contributes to both the transition from juvenile to adult and from vegetative to reproductive [35]. Here MdSBP24, PpSPL4, PrpSPL4, and RoSPL12 with AtSPL13 belonged to the homologous group (Figure 6). Therefore, these SPLs have the potential roles in the transition from juvenile to adult and from vegetative to reproductive. AtSPL14 was previously reported to be involved in sensitivity to fumonisin B1 associated with programmed cell death and plant architecture development [14]. AtSPL1 and AtSPL12 confer plant thermotolerance at the reproductive stage [36]. PpSPL3, MdSBP2, PrpSPL15, RoSPL6, and FvSPL9 were clustered into one group with AtSPL14, AtSPL16, AtSPL1, and AtSPL12 (Figure 6), which may have the function similar to AtSPL14, AtSPL1, and AtSPL12. AtSPL2, AtSPL10, and AtSPL11 play a role in morphological change related to shoot maturation in the reproductive phase [37]. PpSPL5, MdSBP12, MdSBP23, RoSPL3, and PrpSPL5 with AtSPL2, AtSPL10, and AtSPL11 belonged to one group (Figure 6), indicating that these SPLs may have similar function. AtSPL6 has a function in resisting the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae expressing the AvrRps4 effector, and positively regulates defense gene expression [38]. FvSPL8, RoSPL7, and PrpSPL14 were clustered closely with AtSPL6 (Figure 6), indicating that these genes may have the role in defense against pathogens. AtSPL7 is a regulator of Cu homeostasis in Arabidopsis, which can bind directly to the Cu-response element (CuRE) with a core sequence of GTAC [15]. MdSBP25, PpSPL2, MdSBP17, RoSPL8, PrpSPL3, FvSPL3, and AtSPL7 belonged to the same group (Figure 6), indicating that these SPLs may regulate Cu homeostasis. AtSPL8 regulates the development of pollen sac [39], fertility [40], biosynthesis, and signaling of GA [41]. RoSPL9, PpSPL7, FvSPL14, MdSBP5, and PrpSPL7 were clustered into the same group with AtSPL8 (Figure 6). Therefore, these SPLs may be involved in the development of pollen sac, male fertility, biosynthesis, and signaling of GA.

Figure 6.

Phylogenetic tree of SPL protein from Arabidopsis, strawberry, apple, peach, black raspberry, and pear. During plant evolution, in different species, genes with similar functions are usually strongly related to each other and are on the same branch in a phylogenetic analysis [44]. Therefore, the functions of unknown genes could be predicted from known genes based on the phylogenetic analysis. The functions of some SPL genes have been studied in the model plant A. thaliana. Here according to the phylogenetic relationship of SPL genes from the five studied Rosaceae species and A. thaliana, the roles of the some SPLs could be inferred through AtSPLs. Proteins with similar functions are indicated with colors.

4. Discussion

SPLs are the specific transcription factors in plant, which contain the very conservative SBP domain. SPL genes are very important for plant development, signaling, and defense mechanisms, which have been reported in many plants, such as Arabidopsis, rice, maize, and tomato. However, comprehensive molecular evolutionary and function analysis remain elusive. The Rosaceae family has significant economic value, including the specialty fruit crops. Because of its potential health benefits, black raspberry (R. occidentalis L.) is a famous fruit crop [42]. The draft genome of black raspberry with 243 Mb has been recently published [43]. However, compared with other species from Rosaceae family, such as strawberry, apple, and pear, the progress of biological research on black raspberry is much slower, and the function of SPLs in black raspberry is almost unknown. Through a genome-wide identification, we obtained the set of RoSPLs for the first time (Table 1), showing at least 15 RoSPLs in R. occidentalis. Furthermore, we systematically analyzed the 92 SPL family genes in strawberry, apple, peach, black raspberry, and pear, including conservative domains and motifs, phylogenetic relationships, posttranscriptional regulation, and physiological function.

Phylogenetic analysis of genes is regarded as a very important basis for studying gene functions. During plant evolution, in different species, genes with similar functions are usually strongly related to each other and are on the same branch in a phylogenetic analysis [44]. Therefore, phylogenetic relationship could provide a convenient base for the identification of gene function. For example, the roles of some GSKs in cotton fiber development and stress responses were demonstrated through whole-genome characterization and phylogenetic analysis [45], and the LsToll-13 was clustered with the TLR13 by phylogenetic analysis and might be involved in the immune response of L. striatellus to RSV infection [46]. The analysis of phylogenetic relationship is very important step to discover the evolution and function divergence of the SPLs. Owing to the publication of more and more plant genome sequences, phylogenetic analysis of SPL genes at genome scale is receiving attention. For example, Li et al. [47] identified SPL genes from cassava, rubber tree, physic nut, and castor bean and carried out phylogenetic analysis for these genes. Zhang et al. [44] investigated the evolutionary relationships and divergence of SPL genes from moss, Arabidopsis, rice, and maize. Here, based on the conservative domains and motifs, phylogenetic analysis of the 92 full-length proteins showed that SPL gene family in five studied plant species was distributed into 11 groups. SPLs from different plant species in the same group shared common ancestors, some FvSPLs may be lost or may be developed in Rosaceae species, and there was a closer relationship between apple and pear and strawberry and black raspberry, respectively. Genes within the same group indicated their functional redundancy (Figure 1). Compared to domain sequences, the full-length proteins provide more information and more reliable evidence for SBP-box gene family. To illustrate the function of SPLs in five studied Rosaceae species, phylogenetic analysis of the full-length proteins of 108 SBP-box genes from strawberry, apple, peach, black raspberry, pear, and Arabidopsis was carried out (Figure 6). Compared with the Abdullah’s study on strawberry, pear, peach, Mei, and Arabidopsis [11], we’ve excluded more groups. This result is consistent with the phylogenetic analyses of strawberry, apple, peach, black raspberry, and pear except for AtSPL3. Based on the phylogenetic relationships between the five Rosaceae species and Arabidopsis, we predicted that FvSPL10, RoSPL10, PpSPL13, PrpSPL16, PrpSPL17, MdSBP18, and PpSPL9 may regulate plant growth and development; PpSPL10 and MdSBP20 may involve in anthocyanin biosynthesis; MdSBP24, PpSPL4, PrpSPL4, and RoSPL12 may play a role in the vegetative-to-reproductive transition; PpSPL3, MdSBP2, PrpSPL15, RoSPL6, and FvSPL9 may have significant roles in sensitivity to abiotic factors; PpSPL5, MdSBP12, MdSBP23, RoSPL3, and PrpSPL5 may control morphological change in the reproductive phase; FvSPL8, RoSPL7, and PrpSPL14 may play a role in defense against pathogens; MdSBP25, PpSPL2, MdSBP17, RoSPL8, PrpSPL3, and FvSPL3 may regulate Cu homeostasis; and RoSPL9, PpSPL7, FvSPL14, MdSBP5, and PrpSPL7 may involve in the development of pollen sac, male fertility, biosynthesis, and signaling of GA. It provides a basic understanding necessary for the future research on the function of SPL genes in Rosaceae species.

Up to this point, many microRNAs have been found in plants, and their roles in gene expression have been verified. miRNAs can clear their target mRNAs or repress translation by binding to their target mRNAs and forming RNA-induced silencing complex to regulate plant growth, development, metabolism, and abiotic and biotic stress responses. miR156 is one of the very conserved microRNA families in plants [20], and miR156-SPL modules have been believed to have a very important effect on the transition from juvenile to adult, flowering time, roots, shoots, leaves and fruit development, fertility, secondary metabolism, and stress responses [18,19,20,21,31,40,48,49,50,51]. Previous studies showed that more than half of SPLs were predicted to be miR156 mediated in certain species. For example, among the 16 AtSPLs in Arabidopsis, 10 are the targets of miR156 [3,18,30]. In rice, 11 of 19 OsSPLs contain complementary sequences to OsmiR156 [4]. In tomato, 15 SPLs were found, 10 of which have target sites of miR156 [6]. Among the five studied Rosaceae species, 11 of 19 PpSPLs were the potential miR156 targets in pear [10], 15 of 27 MdSBP genes were the complementary sequences to the miR156 in apple [9], and 9 of 14 FvSPL genes were the potential targets of miR156 in strawberry [23]. Here we predicted that 5 FvSPLs, 11 PpSPLs, and 15 MdSBPs were the potential targets of miR156 in their coding region, which supported the previous studies. At the same time, eight RoSPLs in black raspberry and nine PrpSPLs in peach targeted by miR156 were predicted for the first time. It indicated that miR156 might be involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis, vegetative transition from juvenile to adult, morphological change in the reproductive phase, and defense against pathogens based on the potential function of SPLs in the five studied Rosaceae species. These results enlarge the regulatory network of SPLs and help to further study the regulatory mechanism of SPL family genes in Rosaceae species.

5. Conclusions

Among the 92 SPLs from the five studied Rosaceae species, 15 RoSPLs in R. occidentalis were identified for the first time, and some FvSPLs may be lost or developed. Forty-eight SPLs have complementary sequences to miR156, of which nine PrpSPLs in peach and eight RoSPLs in black raspberry were reported for the first time as the potential targets of miR156, suggesting the conserved regulatory effects of miR156 on SPLs and indicating the roles of miR156-SPL modules in plant growth, development, and defense responses. Further studies are necessary to discover the possible roles and the regulatory mechanism of SPLs in Rosaceae species.