Genome-wide survey of heat shock factors and heat shock protein 70s and their regulatory network under abiotic stresses in Brachypodium distachyon

The heat shock protein 70s (Hsp70s) and heat shock factors (Hsfs) play key roles in protecting plant cells or tissues from various abiotic stresses. Brachypodium distachyon, recently developed an excellent model organism for functional genomics research, is related to the major cereal grain species. Although B. distachyon genome has been fully sequenced, the information of Hsf and Hsp70 genes and especially the regulatory network between Hsfs and Hsp70s remains incomplete. Here, a total of 24 BdHsfs and 29 BdHsp70s were identified in the genome by bioinformatics analysis and the regulatory network between Hsfs and Hsp70s were performed in this study. Based on highly conserved domain and motif analysis, BdHsfs were grouped into three classes, and BdHsp70s divided into six groups, respectively. Most of Hsf proteins contain five conserved domains: DBD, HR-A/B region, NLS and NES motifs and AHA domain, while Hsp70 proteins have three conserved domains: N-terminal nucleotide binding domain, peptide binding domain and a variable C-terminal lid region. Expression data revealed a large number of BdHsfs and BdHsp70s were induced by HS challenge, and a previous heat acclimation could induce the acquired thermotolerance to help seedling suffer the severe HS challenge, suggesting that the BdHsfs and BdHsp70s played a role in alleviating the damage by HS. The comparison revealed that, most BdHsfs and BdHsp70s genes responded to multiple abiotic stresses in an overlapping relationship, while some of them were stress specific response genes. Moreover, co-expression relationships and predicted protein-protein interaction network implied that class A and B Hsfs played as activator and repressors, respectively, suggesting that BdHsp70s might be regulated by both the activation and the repression mechanisms under stress condition. Our genomics analysis of BdHsfs and BdHsp70s provides important evolutionary and functional characterization for further investigation of the accurate regulatory mechanisms among Hsfs and Hsp70s in herbaceous plants.