ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Abiotic Stress
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1653750
Genome-Wide Analysis of WRKY Transcription Factors Involved in Abiotic Stress in Lonicera japonica
Provisionally accepted
- 1Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha, China
- 2Hunan Academy of Forestry, Changsha, China
- 3Changsha Environmental Protecton College, Changsha, China
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The WRKY transcription factor family, one of the largest gene families in plants, plays crucial roles in regulating growth, stress responses, and environmental adaptation. However, the specific functions and regulatory mechanisms of WRKY genes in Lonicera japonica (honeysuckle) under drought and salt stress remain poorly characterized. In this studywe identified 41 LjWRKY genes from the L. japonica genome. These genes are unevenly distributed across nine chromosomes. Phylogenetic analysis based on the conserved WRKY domain classified the LjWRKYs into Groups I, II, and III. Promoter analysis revealed an abundance of light-responsive elements, hormone-related elements and abiotic stress-related elements within the LjWRKY genes.Analysis of gene duplication events identified 70 gene pairs under strong purifying selection during evolution. Notably, comparisons with Lonicera macranthoides revealed 5 genes exhibiting exceptionally strong conservation (Ka/Ks < 0.1), suggesting potential roles as housekeeping genes.Two LjWRKY genes (LjWRKY22 and 31) were identified as key regulators through correlated expression patterns with stress-responsive physiological biomarkers. This study elucidates keyregulatory mechanismsof LjWRKY transcription factors in L. japonica 's response to drought and salt stress. Our findings providespecific candidate genesfor further investigation into WRKY functional evolution and offer amolecular basisfor developing enhanced drought-and salt-tolerant L. Japonica cultivars.
Keywords: WRKY, Lonicera japonica, medicinal plant, abiotic stress, expression analysis, bioinformatics
Received: 25 Jun 2025; Accepted: 25 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 李, Pi, Si-Si, Li, Cai, Peng, Liu and Qiao. 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: Zhongquan Qiao, Hunan Academy of Forestry, Changsha, China
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