Genome-Wide Identification and Systematic Analysis of the HSF Gene Family in Capparis spinosa and Its Expression Under High Temperature

The <i>heat shock transcription factor</i> is a critical transcription factor gene family in plant response to biotic and abiotic stress, especially in regulating high-temperature stress. While this gene family has been extensively characterized and investigated across a broad range of plant species, research focusing on desert plants with extreme stress tolerance remains relatively scarce. Therefore, this study aimed at the desert plant <i>Capparis spinosa</i>, conducted the whole genome identification of its <i>HSF</i> gene family, and performed a comprehensive systematic analysis including gene structure, chromosome localization, systematic evolution, gene collinearity, and other characteristics. The results showed that the <i>CsHSF</i> family contains 24 genes that are distributed on 14 chromosomes. It has three types, as usual, and different types of genes contain specific conserved motifs. The <i>CsHSF</i> genes exhibit concentrated collinearity with <i>Arabidopsis thaliana</i>, and upstream of the genes, there are 605 <i>cis</i>-elements in response to growth and development, stress, and hormones. On this basis, heatmaps and co-expression networks were drawn based on the reported gene expression in different growth regions of the <i>Capparis spinosa</i> genome. The results demonstrated that certain genes exhibit distinct expression patterns across different growth regions and have close interrelationships with each other. Further transcriptome sequencing and analysis were performed on the leaves of wild <i>Capparis spinosa</i> exposed to high-temperature stress, and the exploration of differential expression of the <i>CsHSF</i> genes revealed that 8 genes play significant regulatory roles in response to heat stress. The results of this research can provide valuable insights into the function and mechanism of the <i>HSF</i> gene family in desert plants, as well as a reference for the analysis of stress resistance mechanisms in desert plants. The obtained genes can supply candidate genes for subsequent functional verification and mechanism analysis.