{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]],"date-time":"2026-09-30T17:54:30Z","timestamp":1790790870516,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":35,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,21]],"date-time":"2026-05-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1779321600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"The \u201cChallenge System\u201d Project for Innovation and Breakthrough in the Seed Industry of Chongqing Municipality: Coptis chinensis"},{"name":"The National Modern Agricultural Industrial Park Project in Shizhu County of Chongqing"},{"name":"The National Key Research and Development Program of China","award":["2022YFD1201600"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2022YFD1201600"]}]},{"name":"The Key Project of Chongqing Special Program for Technological Innovation and Application Development","award":["CSTB2024TIAD-KPX0049"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CSTB2024TIAD-KPX0049"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>GRAS transcription factors are essential for plant growth and stress adaptation, yet they remain uncharacterized in the medicinal herb Coptis chinensis. To address this gap, we performed a genome-wide identification of the GRAS family and investigated its transcriptional responses to temperature and light stress, integrating comparative transcriptomics with promoter analysis to explore potential co-expression with bZIP factors. A total of 48 CcGRAS genes were identified and found to be unevenly distributed across nine chromosomes. Expression profiling revealed that CcGRAS genes are markedly more responsive to varying light intensities (476, 8340 lx) than to temperature stresses (15, 35 \u00b0C), relative to controls (2060 lx for light, 25 \u00b0C for temperature). Co-expression analysis uncovered an underground tissue-specific module in which CcbZIP16 is upregulated with four CcGRAS genes (CcGRAS11, CcGRAS12, CcGRAS43, CcGRAS48) that are coordinately upregulated specifically under low-light conditions. The promoters of these co-expressed genes are significantly enriched in canonical light-responsive cis-elements, providing correlative evidence for their coordinated transcriptional control. Together, these findings identify a tissue-specific GRAS-bZIP co-expressed gene set under light stress and suggest a candidate regulatory framework for dissecting light adaptation mechanisms. This work also provides a foundation for targeted genetic improvements in stress tolerance and alkaloid biosynthesis in this important medicinal plant.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms27104617","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,21]],"date-time":"2026-05-21T12:06:07Z","timestamp":1779365167000},"page":"4617","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Genome-Wide Identification of the GRAS Transcription Factor Family in Coptis chinensis Reveals Tissue-Specific Co-Expression with bZIP Proteins Under Light Stress"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"27","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0003-4076-7900","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Wuke","family":"Wei","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Chongqing Academy of Chinese Materia Medica, Chongqing 400065, China"},{"name":"Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Chinese Medicinal Resource from Lingnan, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou 510006, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jun","family":"Tan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Chongqing Academy of Chinese Materia Medica, Chongqing 400065, China"},{"name":"School of Chinese Materia Medica, Chongqing University of Chinese Medicine, Chongqing 401121, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lianan","family":"Guo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Chongqing Academy of Chinese Materia Medica, Chongqing 400065, China"},{"name":"School of Chinese Materia Medica, Chongqing University of Chinese Medicine, Chongqing 401121, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yili","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Chongqing Institute for Food and Drug Control, Chongqing 402760, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yu","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Chongqing Academy of Chinese Materia Medica, Chongqing 400065, China"},{"name":"School of Chinese Materia Medica, Chongqing University of Chinese Medicine, Chongqing 401121, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yuan","family":"Pan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Chongqing Academy of Chinese Materia Medica, Chongqing 400065, China"},{"name":"School of Chinese Materia Medica, Chongqing University of Chinese Medicine, Chongqing 401121, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"655","DOI":"10.1038\/s42003-025-08077-w","article-title":"Mechanisms of Plant Acclimation to Multiple Abiotic Stresses","volume":"8","author":"Jiang","year":"2025","journal-title":"Commun. 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