Genome-wide identification and analysis of the Universal Stress Protein (USP) family in pepper (Capsicum annuum L.).

Authors

Li Chen, Zhixue Dong, Xuewei Wang, Zhuqing Zhang, Sha Yang, Xuefeng Li, Xuexiao Zou, Chengliang Liang, Wenchao Chen

Published in

Frontiers in plant science. Volume 17. Pages 1957880. Epub Sep 16, 2026.

Abstract

Members of the Universal Stress Protein (USP) family are crucial for plant abiotic stress responses and growth regulation.
In this study, we identified 30 CaUSP genes in the pepper genome. These genes were distributed across all 12 chromosomes and phylogenetically classified into eight distinct subgroups. Collinearity analysis revealed evolutionary relationships between the USP families of pepper and Arabidopsis. Cis-acting element analysis indicated that CaUSP gene promoters harbour multiple stress-, hormone-, and development-related motifs. Expression profiling showed that CaUSP19 is highly expressed in floral organs, with a marked increase during the late bud development stage, suggesting a potential role in reproductive development. Using virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS), we demonstrated that knockdown of CaUSP19 significantly reduced pollen viability and germination.
Collectively, this study provides a systematic genome-wide overview of the pepper CaUSP family and reveals a novel role for CaUSP19 in regulating pollen viability, thereby laying a foundation for further investigation of USP functions in plant reproduction.

PMID:
42818712
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 01 Oct 2026.

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