Abstract
The TIFY family is an important gene family which can be found only in plant and involved in different biologic processes. Jasmonic acid (JA) promotes anthocyanin accumulation in fruit. To explore the role of PpTIFY genes in anthocyanin biosynthesis of Chinese sand pear (Pyrus pyrifolia Nakai), we first cloned 21 PpTIFY genes from the pear genome and further identified 11 PpJAZ genes. The sequence similarity among the PpTIFY genes was relatively low, which indicated that PpTIFY genes in higher plants differentiated early during land plant evolution and have experienced considerable mutation. Transcripts of PpTIFY genes were detected in all organs and tissues of pear analyzed. The spatial and temporal expression patterns indicated that PpTIFY genes were associated with anthocyanin accumulation and JA signaling. The expression levels of PpTIFY genes were highest in leaves, whereas during fruit maturation, the expression level dramatically decreased. Furthermore, PpTIFY was induced after JA and light treatment in conjunction with anthocyanin accumulation in the peel of red fruit of Chinese sand pear. Genome-wide identification and characterization of pear PpTIFY genes will be helpful for further functional analysis of this gene family and cultivar improvement in pears.