Genome-Wide Identification and Analysis of GATA Gene Family in Dendrobium officinale Under Methyl Jasmonate and Salt Stress

<i>Dendrobium officinale,</i> which was rich in bioactive compounds such as polysaccharides, alkaloids, amino acids, and flavonoids, had significant medicinal value and ability to resist stresses. Studies had demonstrated that <i>GATA</i> genes were one of the crucial regulators in controlling plant development and growth and stress response. Genome-wide identification and characterization of the 18 <i>DoGATA</i> genes were displayed. According to phylogenetic relationships, the <i>DoGATA</i> family genes were divided into 4 groups and the conserved motifs of <i>DoGATA1</i>-<i>DoGATA18</i> within the same group were similar. All <i>DoGATA</i> genes were localized in the nucleus and randomly mapped on 10 chromosomes. The GATA genes in <i>D. officinale</i> experienced one pair of tandem duplication and 4 pairs of segment duplications to expand the family genes. Additionally, we found that the 2000 bp upstream promoter region of the <i>DoGATA</i> genes harbored 23 types of <i>cis</i>-acting elements that were categorized into plant growth and development, phytohormone responsiveness, and stress responsiveness. <i>DoGATA1</i>-<i>DoGATA18</i> were diversely expressed across different tissues (root, leaf, stem, flower), exposed to salt stress, and following MeJA treatment. Co-expression analysis between <i>DoGATA</i> and enzyme-encoding genes involved in the biosynthesis of flavone showed that <i>DoCHI</i> (LOC110104562) and <i>DoGTMT</i> (LOC110098370) may be potential downstream targets of <i>DoGATA16</i> to regulate flavonoid biosynthesis to adapt to salt stress. Furthermore, we confirmed that <i>DoGATA16</i> may act as a key member to resist stress. The collective findings of this study shed light on the function of <i>GATA</i> genes and molecular breeding of <i>D. officinale</i>.