Abstract

Basic leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factors are widely involved in plant development and stress responses. Cymbidium goeringii (Rchb.f.) Rchb.f. is a globally important ornamental orchid whose growth is frequently constrained by extreme heat, yet genome-wide information on its bZIP genes and their responses to heat treatment remains limited. In this study, 67 CgbZIP genes were identified from the C. goeringii genome and assigned to 10 subfamilies based on phylogenetic relationships. RT-qPCR analysis showed that selected CgbZIP genes displayed different transcript-level responses under heat treatment. CgbZIP4 showed increased transcript abundance under heat treatment, whereas CgbZIP49, CgbZIP50, CgbZIP53, and CgbZIP2 showed reduced transcript abundance. CgbZIP25 displayed a fluctuating expression pattern during the 24 h treatment. Yeast two-hybrid assays supported a possible physical interaction between CgbZIP4 and CgbZIP25 in yeast. These results provide candidate CgbZIP genes for further functional studies of heat-stress responses in C. goeringii.

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