Identification and analysis of AP2/ERF gene family in tomato under abiotic stress

AP2/ERE-type transcription factors, as a type of plant-specific transcription factors, play a key role in plant biotic and abiotic stress. Meanwhile, they have been studied in many plants, but rarely in tomatoes. In this study, we performed a genome-wide analysis of the SlAP2/ERF gene family of tomato, and finally identified 29 SlAP2/ERF genes and divided them into different subfamilies. At the same time, its basic physical and chemical properties were analyzed. We also constructed phylogenetic trees with 30 Arabidopsis AP2/ERF proteins and 28 potatoes AP2/ERF proteins to ensure conservative homology between them. In addition, we mapped 29 SlAP2/ERF transcription factors on 10 different chromosomes; and identified 43 responsive plant hormones, responsive light signals, tissue-specific expression and stress response elements from 2000bp upstream of the promoter region, and we analyzed conserved motifs and gene structures of SlAP2/ERF. The tertiary structure of SlAP2/ERF protein was constructed by homology modeling, and the protein-protein interaction network was constructed based on Arabidopsis Thaliana. Finally, the expression pattern of tomato in different tissues was studied by using gene expression database, and the expression level of tomato under abiotic stress was detected by q-RT-PCR. These results provide comprehensive information for further study of the function of the SlAP2/ERF gene family.