{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,5]],"date-time":"2026-09-05T05:17:43Z","timestamp":1788585463853,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"17","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,3]],"date-time":"2026-09-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788393600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100011789","name":"Department of Science and Technology of Jilin Province","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["20240402046GH"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["20240402046GH"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100011789","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"name":"Jilin Agricultural University Undergraduate Students Innovation and Entrepreneurship Project","award":["2025"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2025"]}]},{"name":"Jilin Agricultural University Undergraduate Students Innovation and Entrepreneurship Project","award":["2026"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2026"]}]},{"award":["2025"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2025"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/05dmhhd41","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["2026"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2026"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/05dmhhd41","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Biology"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Panax ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Mey.) produces pharmacologically valuable ginsenosides. WD40-repeat (WDR) proteins act as versatile regulators of plant specialized metabolism, yet their biological roles under methyl jasmonate (MeJA) elicitation remain largely uncharacterized in ginseng. In this study, we identified 29 PgWDR family members at the whole-genome level, and systematically analyzed their phylogeny, gene structure, cis-acting promoter elements, as well as organ- and development-dependent expression patterns. Six candidate genes potentially associated with ginsenoside biosynthesis were screened through integrating gene\u2013metabolite correlation analysis and gene co-expression analysis. Under MeJA treatment, three of these candidates showed statistically significant expression responses, while the other three exhibited variable expression fluctuations with no statistical significance. PgWDR24 displayed a positive correlation with key ginsenoside biosynthetic enzyme genes, and a negative correlation with protopanaxadiol-type ginsenoside accumulation. Combined with its predicted nuclear localization, we hypothesize that PgWDR24 participates in the negative modulation of protopanaxadiol-type ginsenoside accumulation, although further genetic functional validation is still required. This work provides valuable candidate genes for deciphering ginsenoside regulatory networks and offers support for molecular-assisted breeding of high-quality ginseng.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/biology15171516","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,3]],"date-time":"2026-09-03T09:20:43Z","timestamp":1788427243000},"page":"1516","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Comprehensive Identification of WDR Gene Family in Panax ginseng: PgWDR Gene Expression Analysis with Ginsenosides Biosynthesis Under MeJA"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Lin","family":"Shi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Science, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun 130118, China"},{"name":"Jilin Engineering Research Center Ginseng Genetic Resources Development and Utilization, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun 130118, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hexuan","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Science, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun 130118, China"},{"name":"Jilin Engineering Research Center Ginseng Genetic Resources Development and Utilization, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun 130118, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Aimin","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Science, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun 130118, China"},{"name":"Jilin Engineering Research Center Ginseng Genetic Resources Development and Utilization, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun 130118, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Silu","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Science, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun 130118, China"},{"name":"Jilin Engineering Research Center Ginseng Genetic Resources Development and Utilization, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun 130118, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yu","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Science, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun 130118, China"},{"name":"Jilin Engineering Research Center Ginseng Genetic Resources Development and Utilization, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun 130118, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kexin","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Science, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun 130118, China"},{"name":"Jilin Engineering Research Center Ginseng Genetic Resources Development and Utilization, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun 130118, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mingzhu","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Science, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun 130118, China"},{"name":"Jilin Engineering Research Center Ginseng Genetic Resources Development and Utilization, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun 130118, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Meiping","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Science, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun 130118, China"},{"name":"Jilin Engineering Research Center Ginseng Genetic Resources Development and Utilization, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun 130118, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yi","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Science, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun 130118, China"},{"name":"Jilin Engineering 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Changchun 130118, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,3]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"202","DOI":"10.1007\/s13238-011-1018-1","article-title":"Structure and function of WD40 domain-containing proteins","volume":"2","author":"Xu","year":"2011","journal-title":"Protein Cell"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"181","DOI":"10.1016\/S0968-0004(99)01384-5","article-title":"The WD repeat: A common architecture for diverse functions","volume":"24","author":"Smith","year":"1999","journal-title":"Trends Biochem. 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