{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,14]],"date-time":"2026-08-14T09:29:43Z","timestamp":1786699783207,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"16","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,14]],"date-time":"2026-08-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1786665600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100008238","name":"Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["C2025201039"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["C2025201039"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100008238","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100009108","name":"2025 Annual Instrument and Equipment Capacity & Technical Improvement Project of Shandong University","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["ts20250105"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ts20250105"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100009108","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["ts20250105"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ts20250105"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/0207yh398","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Plants"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Nuclear factor Y (NF-Y) constitutes a pivotal transcription factor family that modulates plant growth and development as well as abiotic stress responses. Oat (Avena sativa L.) is an economically vital cereal crop and a major livestock forage globally. Nevertheless, the NF-Y gene family has not yet been systematically characterized in the oat genome. Here, we identified 36 AsNF-Y genes in the oat genome and categorized them into three distinct subfamilies (NF-YA, NF-YB, and NF-YC). Phylogeny, gene structure, duplication, collinearity, and conserved motif analyses revealed high evolutionary conservation of this gene family. Additionally, the identification of diverse cis-acting regulatory elements in the promoters of AsNF-Y genes, combined with their differential expression profiles under multiple abiotic stress conditions, indicated that AsNF-Ys serve as crucial regulators in modulating oat abiotic stress tolerance. Furthermore, preliminary functional validation via the TRV-VIGS system confirmed that two candidate genes, AsNF-YC02 and AsNF-YC06, may positively regulate salt tolerance in oat. Collectively, our findings deepen the understanding of NF-Y genes in gramineous crops and supply promising candidates for the genetic improvement of oat stress tolerance and molecular breeding.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/plants15162466","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,14]],"date-time":"2026-08-14T08:08:29Z","timestamp":1786694909000},"page":"2466","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Genome-Wide Characterization of Nuclear Factor Y (NF-Y) Transcription Factors in Allohexaploid Oat"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Cailian","family":"Du","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Sciences, Institute of Life Science and Green Development, Hebei University, Baoding 271000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yvkun","family":"Xue","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Sciences, Institute of Life Science and Green Development, Hebei University, Baoding 271000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hao","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Advanced Medical Research Institute, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qingbin","family":"Sun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Life Sciences, Institute of Life Science and Green Development, Hebei University, Baoding 271000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1336","DOI":"10.1074\/jbc.M209635200","article-title":"The NF-YB\/NF-YC structure gives insight into DNA binding and transcription regulation by CCAAT factor NF-Y","volume":"278","author":"Romier","year":"2003","journal-title":"J. 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