Abstract
The small plant-specific YABBY gene family plays key roles in diverse developmental processes in plants. Dendrobium chrysotoxum, D. huoshanense, and D. nobile are perennial herbaceous plants belonging to Orchidaceae with a high ornamental value. However, the relationships and specific functions of the YABBY genes in the Dendrobium species remain unknown. In this study, six DchYABBYs, nine DhuYABBYs, and nine DnoYABBYs were identified from the genome databases of the three Dendrobium species, which were unevenly distributed on five, eight, and nine chromosomes, respectively. The 24 YABBY genes were classified into four subfamilies (CRC/DL, INO, YAB2, and FIL/YAB3) based on their phylogenetic analysis. A sequence analysis showed that most of the YABBY proteins contained conserved C2C2 zinc-finger and YABBY domains, while a gene structure analysis revealed that 46% of the total YABBY genes contained seven exons and six introns. All the YABBY genes harbored a large number of Methyl Jasmonate responsive elements, as well as anaerobic induction cis-acting elements in the promoter regions. Through a collinearity analysis, one, two, and two segmental duplicated gene pairs were identified in the D. chrysotoxum, D. huoshanense, and D. nobile genomes, respectively. The Ka/Ks values of these five gene pairs were lower than 0.5, indicating that the Dendrobium YABBY genes underwent negative selection. In addition, an expression analysis revealed that DchYABBY2 plays a role in ovary and early-stage petal development, while DchYABBY5 is essential for lip development and DchYABBY6 is crucial for early sepal formation. DchYABBY1 primarily regulates sepals during blooming. Furthermore, there is the potential involvement of DchYABBY2 and DchYABBY5 in gynostemium development. The results of a comprehensive genome-wide study would provide significant clues for future functional investigations and pattern analyses of YABBY genes in different flower parts during flower development in the Dendrobium species.