Genome-wide identification and expression analysis of autophagy-related genes (ATGs), revealing ATG8a and ATG18b participating in drought stress in Phoebe bournei

As a highly conserved intracellular degradation process in eukaryotes, autophagy plays an important role in plant response to abiotic stresses such as drought. The aim of this study was to identify the autophagy-related genes (ATGs) in Phoebe bournei, and investigate the role of PbATG8a and PbATG18b in improving drought tolerance. In this study, a total of 35 ATGs were identified in P. bournei, and the basic physical and chemical properties, phylogenetic relationship, chromosomal location, gene structure, conserved domain and cis-interacting elements in promoters of the PbATGs were analyzed. The expression patterns of PbATGs showed most PbATGs were response to PEG simulated drought treatment and ABA treatment, of which PbATG8a and PbATG18b were further selected for further research. PbATG8a and PbATG18b were transformed into yeast to improve drought tolerance, respectively. Overexpression of the number of autophagosomes. The overexpression of PbATG8a and PbATG18b in P. bournei increased the number of autophagosomes and the expression levels of other ATGs, such as PbATG5, PbATG7 and PbATG12, which may be involved in the response to drought stress. Overall, we identified the ATGs and investigated the roles of PbATG8a and PbATG18b under drought stress, which provided a research basis and reference for the study of PbATGs in P. bournei.