ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Abiotic Stress
This article is part of the Research TopicPlant Responses to Abiotic Stress: Unraveling Complex Mechanisms through Genomics and PhysiologyView all 10 articles
Genome-wide analysis of the glutathione S-transferase family in Vaccinium corymbosum and functional characterization of VcGSTU53 in response to abiotic stress
Provisionally accepted
Youwen Tian1,2
Bowei Wang2Jinjie Xing2Jingyu Wu2Limei Che3Qiyao Zhang3Yadong Li2Li Chen2*Haiyue Sun2*- 1Shijiazhuang Institute of Pomology，Hebei Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Shijiazhuang, China
- 2College of Horticulture, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, China
- 3Jilin Provincial Agro-Tech Extension Center, Changchun, China
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As a high-value small fruit crop worldwide, blueberry is prized for its health-promoting properties. Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) are a large and complex family of enzymes that play vital roles in flavonoid metabolism, plant growth and development, and responses to abiotic stress. However, relatively little is known about the GST gene family in blueberry. In this study, we initially identified 190 VcGST genes using various bioinformatic approaches. These genes were categorized into 14 major subclasses: tau (U, 75), phi (F, 28), EF1G (17), lambda (L, 10), MAPEG (10), zeta (8), GHR (8), Metaxin (M, 7), GST2N (6), DHAR (5), hemerythrin (H, 4), mPGES2 (4), TCHQD (4) and theta (T, 4); however, no iota (I) class GST was found. The lengths of the VcGST genes ranged from 366 bp to 4386 bp, encoding polypeptides of 121 to 1461 amino acids, with predicted molecular weights ranging from 13.86 kDa to 163.02 kDa, and theoretical isoelectric points ranging from 4.77 to 9.56. Approximately 46.32% of VcGST proteins were predicted to localize in the cytoplasm, with the remainder predicted to localize in the endomembrane system, chloroplasts, nucleus, mitochondria, extracellular space, and plasma membrane. Based on a comparative transcriptome profiling of 30 AlCl₃-treated root samples from two cultivars, VcGSTU53 was screened as a key aluminum-stress-responsive gene. VcGSTU53 encodes a protein of 230 amino acids, is localized in the cytoplasm, and exhibits transferase activity. Heterologous expression of VcGSTU53 in Escherichia coli did not inhibit bacterial growth, but enhanced tolerance to aluminum stress. Notably, it also increased bacterial resistance to drought and cadmium stresses. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the functions of the GST family in plants under abiotic stress, which is of great significance for the development of new stress-resistant blueberry varieties.
Keywords: abiotic stress, Aluminum stress, genome-wide, Glutathione S-Transferases (GSTs), Vaccinium corymbosum
Received: 05 Dec 2025; Accepted: 16 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Tian, Wang, Xing, Wu, Che, Zhang, Li, Chen and Sun. 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:
Li Chen
Haiyue Sun
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