Abstract
BACKGROUND: Protein phosphatases (PP) play a crucial role in regulation of physiological response to various environmental stimuli in plants. Protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) are a class of Ser/Thr protein phosphatases which are present widely across plant species and facilitate plant responses to biotic and abiotic stresses, and hormone treatment. METHODS: Using BLASTp, tea PP2A genes were found and their physicochemical characteristics (ExPASy), subcellular localization, and intron-exon structure (GSDS) were described. MEGA software was used to examine phylogenetic relationships, SMART online tool to analyze conserved domains, and PlantCARE tool to analyze cis-elements. The Heatmapper online tool was used to visualize expression profiles across plant tissues and stress conditions. Under controlled conditions, 2-year-old Camellia sinensis plants were exposed to methyl jasmonate (MeJA) stress treatments, cold drought, and salt stresses and qRT-PCR (2(-ΔΔCt) technique, CsACTIN as internal control) was used to validate the results. RESULTS: We found 11 PP2A genes in C. sinensis (CsPP2A) through a genome-wide search wherein Arabidopsis thaliana was taken as the reference genome. Further, a systematic study was conducted wherein physicochemical properties, phylogeny, gene structure and gene expression were explored. Analysis of cis-elements, gene ontology, and expression patterns of CsPP2A genes under various stresses, combined with prior research on the PP2A gene family in other plants, suggests that the PP2A family plays a role in regulating phytohormone (auxin, salicylic acid, gibberellin, abscisic acid, MeJA) responses during stress in C. sinensis. The real time PCR also confirmed the potential role of (TEA018948.1) CsPP2AB9/CsPP2A-TON2/FASS1 gene in abiotic stress responses. CONCLUSION: This study offers potential goals for further in-depth investigation and functional analysis, alongside enhancing our understanding of the regulatory network of PP2A genes in C. sinensis.