Genome-Wide Identification of the MADS-Box Gene Family during Male and Female Flower Development in Chayote (Sechium edule)

The MADS-box gene plays an important role in plant growth and development. As an important vegetable of Cucurbitaceae, chayote has great edible and medicinal value. So far, there is little molecular research on chayote, and there are no reports on the MADS-box transcription factor of chayote. In this study, the MADS-box gene family of chayote was analyzed for the first time, and a total of 70 MADS-box genes were identified, including 14 type I and 56 type II MICK MADS genes. They were randomly distributed on 13 chromosomes except for chromosome 11. The light response element, hormone response element and abiotic stress response element were found in the promoter region of 70 MADS genes, indicating that the MADS gene can regulate the growth and development of chayote, resist abiotic stress, and participate in hormone response; GO and KEGG enrichment analysis also found that SeMADS genes were mainly enriched in biological regulation and signal regulation, which further proved the important role of MADS-box gene in plant growth and development. The results of collinearity showed that segmental duplication was the main driving force of MADS gene expansion in chayote. RNA-seq showed that the expression levels of SeMADS06, SeMADS13, SeMADS26, SeMADS28, SeMADS36 and SeMADS37 gradually increased with the growth of chayote, indicating that these genes may be related to the development of root tubers of ‘Tuershao’. The gene expression patterns showed that 12 SeMADS genes were specifically expressed in the male flower in ‘Tuershao’ and chayote. In addition, SeMADS03 and SeMADS52 may be involved in regulating the maturation of male flowers of ‘Tuershao’ and chayote. SeMADS21 may be the crucial gene in the development stage of the female flower of ‘Tuershao’. This study laid a theoretical foundation for the further study of the function of the MADS gene in chayote in the future.