Unleashing the Potential of EIL Transcription Factors in Enhancing Sweet Orange Resistance to Bacterial Pathologies: Genome-Wide Identification and Expression Profiling.

The ETHYLENE INSENSITIVE3-LIKE (EIL) family is one of the most important transcription factor (TF) families in plants and is involved in diverse plant physiological and biochemical processes. In this study, ten EIL transcription factors (CsEILs) in sweet orange were systematically characterized via whole-genome analysis. The genes were unevenly distributed across the four sweet orange chromosomes. Putative -acting regulatory elements (CREs) associated with were found to be involved in plant development, as well as responses to biotic and abiotic stress. Notably, quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) revealed that genes were widely expressed in different organs of sweet orange and responded to both high and low temperature, NaCl treatment, and to ethylene-dependent induction of transcription, while eight additionally responded to pv. (Xcc) infection, which causes citrus canker. Among these, , and showed pronounced upregulation. Moreover, nine genes exhibited differential expression in response to Liberibacter asiaticus (Las) infection, which causes Citrus Huanglongbing (HLB). The genome-wide characterization and expression profile analysis of genes provide insights into the potential functions of the family in disease resistance.