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AP2/ERF transcription factors play crucial roles in various biological activities, including plant growth, development, and responses to biotic and abiotic stressors. However, limited research has been conducted on the AP2/ERF genes of Melastoma dodecandrum for breeding of this potential fruit crop. Leveraging the recently published whole genome sequence, we conducted a comprehensive assessment of this superfamily and explored the expression patterns of AP2/ERF genes at a genome-wide level. A significant number of genes, totaling 218, were discovered to possess the AP2 domain sequence and displayed notable structural variations among five subfamilies. An uneven distribution of these genes was observed on 12 pseudochromosomes as the result of gene expansion facilitated by segmental duplications. Analysis of cis-acting elements within promoter sites and 87.6% miRNA splicing genes predicted their involvement in multiple hormone responses and abiotic stresses through transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulations. Transcriptome analysis combined with qRT-PCR results indicated that certain candidate genes are involved in tissue formation and the response to developmental changes induced by IAA hormones. Overall, our study provides valuable insights into the evolution of ERF genes in angiosperms and lays a solid foundation for future breeding investigations aimed at improving fruit quality and enhancing adaptation to barren land environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

WRKY is one of the largest transcription factor families in plants and plays an important role in plant growth and development as well as in abiotic and biological stresses. However, there is little information about the WRKY family in Melastoma dodecandrum. In this study, 126 WRKY members were identified in M. dodecandrum. According to phylogenetic analysis, they were divided into three major groups, and group II was further divided into five subgroups. MedWRKY genes were unevenly distributed on 12 chromosomes. Additionally, the gene structure and sequence composition were similar within the same group and differed between groups, suggesting their functional diversity. The promoter sequence analysis identified a number of cis-acting elements related to plant growth and development, stress response, and secondary metabolite synthesis in the WRKY gene family. The collinearity analysis showed that gene replication events were the main driving force of MedWRKY gene evolution. The transcriptome data and RT-qPCR analysis suggested that MedWRKY genes had higher expression in the roots and ripe fruit of M. dodecandrum. In short, this paper lays a foundation for further study of the functions and molecular mechanism of M. dodecandrum WRKY gene family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The plant genus Melastoma of the family Melastomataceae is comprised of nine species and one variety in China. Melastoma dodecandrum is the only creeping species of this genus. Previous study has reported the complete chloroplast genome of M. dodecandrum from Guangzhou, China, but there may be some differences between plant populations from different regions. Herein, we reported the complete chloroplast genome of M. dodecandrum from Fuzhou, China, which was assembled from Pacbio and whole genome data was sequenced. The sequence has a circular molecular length of 156,598 bp and contained 129 genes. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that M. dodecandrum was closely related to M. candidum in Melastomataceae. The study aims to provide insights for the future studies on the differences in molecular evolution level between plant populations of M. dodecandrum and taxonomy of Melastoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Melastoma dodecandrum is recognized as an ideal industrial subshrub in Melastoma with special characters, like medicinal component, edible fruits, bizarre heteromorphic stamen flowers. Because of strong tolerance to drought and poor land, now it is gradually domesticated into functional economic crops. These special development characters and reported abundant metabolites are suspected to have influence by the mitochondria. To get a better understand of this potential species, we first generated the circle mitochondrial genome with Pacbio-Illumina hybrid sequencing strategy. Finally, the 411,944 bp physical map of M. dodecandrum displayed a long intergenic region segmentation structure and from the comparison with other plant mitogenomes, we unveiled large-scale rearrangements of conserved genes caused by micro inversions. A new insight highlighted the lateral gene transfer from nuclear, chloroplast to mitochondrial genome, consistent fragments captured functional genes like Cytb6f. In the generalized analysis of energy and metabolism genes, we detected a loss of ccmFN and a repeat of cox1 in the whole mitogenome, making it contain relatively complete energy metabolic system. Abnormal selective pressure occurred among the genes in mitogenome and chloroplast, inferring different driving forces of selection existed in the transfer of organic and nuclear genetic materials from hybridization event. This manifested a phylogenetic conflict between the mitochondrial gene and chloroplast gene tree. Eventually, our newly assembled mitogenome will add the knowledge of general trends in mitogenome evolution within dicotyledons and lay solid foundation to the future industrial development. • The reference mitochondrial genome of Melastoma dodecandrum marked large-scale rearrangements of conserved genes and lateral gene transfer [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]