Genome-wide characterization of the SnRK gene family in jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.) reveals that ZjSnRK7 and ZjSnRK9 may contribute to salt stress tolerance
- 1College of Forestry, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, 071001 China
- 2College of Horticulture, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, 071001 China
- 3College of Horticulture and Forestry, Tarim University, Alar, Xinjiang 843300 China
Abstract
Background: During the plant life cycle, biotic and abiotic stresses critically influence survival and development. Sucrose non-fermenting 1-related protein kinases (SnRKs)-a conserved class of key signaling regulators-play a central role in stress response mechanisms shaped by long-term plant evolution. However, systematic genomic characterization of the SnRK gene family in the jujube tree (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.) remains lacking.
Results: In this study, comprehensive bioinformatic analyses identified 17 ZjSnRK genes in the jujube T2T genome; these genes were unevenly distributed across seven chromosomes. Phylogenetic analysis classified them into four distinct subfamilies. Expression profiling revealed that individual ZjSnRK members exhibited divergent transcriptional responses to salt stress. Agrobacterium-mediated transient over-expression and virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) of ZjSnRK7 and ZjSnRK9 were employed as an initial approach to explore their potential involvement in salt-stress responses. Under salt stress, transiently transformed plants exhibited ~about 2-fold (over-expression) or ~0.7-fold (silencing) expression levels of ZjSnRK7/9 relative to wild-type (WT) controls. Survival and wilting rates were quantified: WT plants showed ~60% survival and ~60% wilting (reflecting partial overlap due to scoring methodology); ZjSnRK7/9-over-expressing transiently transformed plants displayed ~90% survival and ~10% wilting; whereas silenced transiently transformed plants exhibited only ~10% survival and ~90% wilting. Collectively, these results provide preliminary evidence that over-expression of either ZjSnRK7 or ZjSnRK9 may be associated with enhanced salt tolerance, whereas their suppression may increase salt sensitivity.
Conclusion: This study presents the first genome-wide identification and integrative analysis of the ZjSnRK gene family in jujube. The findings offer an initial framework for further investigating the potential biological functions of ZjSnRK genes and may serve as a reference for future studies on stress responses in jujube and related species.
Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1186/s12870-026-09715-z.
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BibTeX
@article{yan2026genomewide,
title = {{Genome-wide characterization of the SnRK gene family in jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.) reveals that ZjSnRK7 and ZjSnRK9 may contribute to salt stress tolerance}},
author = {Xueqing Yan and Xuan Zhao and Jiurui Wang and Zhiguo Liu and Lixin Wang and Fenfen Yan and Zhi Luo},
journal = {BMC Plant Biology},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.1186/s12870-026-09715-z},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1186/s12870-026-09715-z},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Genome-wide characterization of the SnRK gene family in jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.) reveals that ZjSnRK7 and ZjSnRK9 may contribute to salt stress tolerance
AU - Xueqing Yan
AU - Xuan Zhao
AU - Jiurui Wang
AU - Zhiguo Liu
AU - Lixin Wang
AU - Fenfen Yan
AU - Zhi Luo
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/10
JO - BMC Plant Biology
DO - 10.1186/s12870-026-09715-z
UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12870-026-09715-z
AB - Background: During the plant life cycle, biotic and abiotic stresses critically influence survival and development. Sucrose non-fermenting 1-related protein kinases (SnRKs)-a conserved class of key signaling regulators-play a central role in stress response mechanisms shaped by long-term plant evolution. However, systematic genomic characterization of the SnRK gene family in the jujube tree (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.) remains lacking. Results: In this study, comprehensive bioinformatic analyses identified 17 ZjSnRK genes in the jujube T2T genome; these genes were unevenly distributed across seven chromosomes. Phylogenetic analysis classified them into four distinct subfamilies. Expression profiling revealed that individual ZjSnRK members exhibited divergent transcriptional responses to salt stress. Agrobacterium-mediated transient over-expression and virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) of ZjSnRK7 and ZjSnRK9 were employed as an initial approach to explore their potential involvement in salt-stress responses. Under salt stress, transiently transformed plants exhibited ~about 2-fold (over-expression) or ~0.7-fold (silencing) expression levels of ZjSnRK7/9 relative to wild-type (WT) controls. Survival and wilting rates were quantified: WT plants showed ~60% survival and ~60% wilting (reflecting partial overlap due to scoring methodology); ZjSnRK7/9-over-expressing transiently transformed plants displayed ~90% survival and ~10% wilting; whereas silenced transiently transformed plants exhibited only ~10% survival and ~90% wilting. Collectively, these results provide preliminary evidence that over-expression of either ZjSnRK7 or ZjSnRK9 may be associated with enhanced salt tolerance, whereas their suppression may increase salt sensitivity. Conclusion: This study presents the first genome-wide identification and integrative analysis of the ZjSnRK gene family in jujube. The findings offer an initial framework for further investigating the potential biological functions of ZjSnRK genes and may serve as a reference for future studies on stress responses in jujube and related species. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1186/s12870-026-09715-z.
SN - 1471-2229
ER -