2021年3月19日，中国农业科学院蔬菜花卉研究所甘蓝青花菜研究团队在期刊planta（2023 IF=4.3）上发表题为”Genome‑wide identification and expression analysis of the Brassica oleracea L. chitin‑binding genes and response to pathogens infections“的研究论文。论文第一作者为朱明钊博士，通讯作者为王勇副研究员和杨丽梅研究员。
几丁质酶是一类和病程相关的蛋白质，在植物抵御外界胁迫中发挥重要作用。然而，到目前为止，关于甘蓝几丁质酶基因家族的全面分析还未见报道，特别是关于几丁质酶在应对各种病害中的作用。
在本研究中，作者通过全基因组搜索的方法，总共鉴定了20个几丁质酶基因，通过系统发育分析将这些基因分为两组。这些基因分布在甘蓝的6条染色体中，且都含有较少的内含子（<=2）。共线性分析结果表明，甘蓝基因组中含有1-5个拟南芥几丁质酶基因的拷贝（不包括Bol35470）。几丁质酶基因家族的表达热图表明，这些基因在不同的组织和器官中表达。在正常条件下，两个基因(Bol023322和Bol041024)在所有被研究的组织中都有较高的表达，表现出看家基因的表达特征。此外，在枯萎病、白粉病、黑斑病和霜霉病四种不同的胁迫条件下，我们分别检测到9、5、8和8个基因在不同处理中的表达水平不同。
Fig. 1 Phylogenetic tree of chitinase genes from cabbage, A. thaliana and B. rapa. The phylogenetic tree was built using the neighbor-joining (NJ) method with 1000 bootstrap replications. Roman numerals (I and IV) represent each gene cluster, which are labeled with different colors
Fig. 2 Distribution of chitinase genes in B. oleracea. chromosomes. The number on the top of each chromosome represents the cabbage chromosome number. Gene names are indicated on the right sides of each chromosome. The distance (Mb) between genes or genes to the ends of the chromosome is indicated on the left side of each chromosome
Fig. 3 Syntenic relationship of cabbage and A. thaliana chitinase genes shown on the chromosome maps. C01-C09, nine chromosomes of cabbage. 1–5, five chromosomes of A. thaliana. Orange lines, homologous gene between cabbage chromosomes. Green lines, homologous genes between cabbage and A. thaliana chromosomes
Fig. 4 Conserved motif (a) and gene structure (b) analysis of chitinase genes. The motifs are indicated in different colored boxes. Exons are represented by boxes, while introns are represented by gray lines
Fig. 5 Predicted cis-acting elements in chitinase gene promoters
Fig. 6 Expression of chitinase genes in different organs
Fig. 8 Expression levels of chitinase genes under F. oxysporum stress. Data are presented as the means ± SD
Fig. 9 Expression levels of chitinase genes under P. brassicae stress. Data are presented as the means ± SD
Fig. 10 Subcellular localization of Bol040748 in tobacco protoplast. a–c and d: Target protein GFP channel, Chloroplast channel, Bright, and Merge. e–h Control GFP channel, chloroplast channel, bright, and merge. Bars = 20 µm
