Genome-Wide Analysis and Expression Profiles of the VOZ Gene Family in Quinoa ().

Vascular plant one zinc-finger (VOZ) proteins are a plant-specific transcription factor family and play important roles in plant development and stress responses. However, little is known about the genes in quinoa. In the present study, a genome-wide investigation of the VOZ gene family in quinoa was performed, including gene structures, conserved motifs, phylogeny, and expression profiles. A total of four quinoa genes distributed on three chromosomes were identified. Based on phylogenetic analysis, and belong to subfamily II, and and belong to subfamily III. Furthermore, the VOZ transcription factors of quinoa and sugarbeet were more closely related than other species. Except for , all the other three have four exons and four introns. Analysis of conserved motifs indicated that each member contained seven common motifs. Multiple sequence alignment showed that the genes were highly conserved with consensus sequences, which might be plausibly significant for the preservation of structural integrity of the family proteins. Tissue expression analysis revealed that four genes were highly expressed in inflorescence and relatively low in leaves and stems, suggesting that these genes had obvious tissue expression specificity. The expression profiles of the quinoa under various abiotic stresses demonstrated that these genes were differentially induced by cold stress, salt stress, and drought stress. The transcript level of and were down-regulated by salt stress and drought stress, while and were up-regulated by cold, salt, and drought stress, which could be used as abiotic stress resistance candidate genes. This study systematically identifies the genes at the genome-wide level, contributing to a better understanding of the quinoa VOZ transcription factor family and laying a foundation for further exploring the molecular mechanism of development and stress resistance of quinoa.