BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Genet.
Sec. Genomics of Plants and the Phytoecosystem
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fgene.2025.1647037
Codon Usage Bias Analysis of the WRKY Gene Family in Musa acuminata
Provisionally accepted
- 1Jiaying University, Meizhou, China
- 2Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Science, Nanning, China
- 3Guangzhou Academy of Agricultural and Rural Sciences, Guangzhou, China
- 4The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Codon usage bias (CUB), a universal evolutionary phenomenon, reflects selective pressures shaping genome adaptation. The WRKY transcription factor family plays a pivotal role in regulating plant responses to physiological and biochemical stresses. This study investigates CUB patterns in 151 WRKY transcription factors of Musa acuminata 'Guijiao 9', a banana cultivar exhibiting resistance to Fusarium wilt Tropical Race 4 (TR4), to elucidate evolutionary drivers of stress adaptation.The codons of these transcription factors were selected based on their expression from RNA-Seq data. The average GC content of MaWRKY genes was 56.55%, with a GC3 content of 62.23%, indicating a preference for G/C-ending codons. Among the codons, 26 were identified as high frequency, with 22 ending in G or C. The high effective number of codons (ENC) values (35.03 to 60.14) suggested weak CUB. ENC-plot, PR2 bias plot, and neutrality analysis revealed that both natural selection and mutation pressure contributed to the observed CUB, with natural selection being the dominant factor influencing the codon usage of MaWRKY genes in M. acuminate 'Guijiao 9'. Fifteen optimal codons, all ending in G or C, were identified. This analysis provides a theoretical foundation for further understanding the evolutionary mechanisms of WRKY genes in Musa.
Keywords: Musa acuminata, 'Guijiao 9', WRKY transcription factors, codon usage bias, natural selection, Mutation pressure, Fusarium wilt of banana Font: Italic Formatted: Font: Italic Formatted: Font: (Default) AdvPTimes, 12 pt
Received: 14 Jun 2025; Accepted: 12 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Sun, Zhang, Zhang, Ferguson and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Andrew Chen, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.