Ma Jianchao, Bai Xiaotao, Luo Wenchun, Feng Yannan, Shao Xuemin, Bai Qiuxian, Sun Shujiao, Long Qiming, Wan Dongshi
State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystem, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
Key Laboratory of Plant Stress Biology, State Key Laboratory of Cotton Biology, School of Life Sciences, Henan University, Kaifeng, China.
Front Genet. 2019 Sep 5;10:777. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2019.00777. eCollection 2019.
Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in various biological regulatory processes, but their roles in plants resistance to salt stress remain largely unknown. To systematically explore the characteristics of lncRNAs and their roles in plant salt responses, we conducted strand-specific RNA-sequencing of four tissue types with salt treatments in two closely related poplars ( and var. ), and a total of 10,646 and 10,531 lncRNAs were identified, respectively. These lncRNAs showed significantly lower values in terms of length, expression, and expression correction than with mRNA. We further found that about 40% and 60% of these identified lncRNAs responded to salt stress with tissue-specific expression patterns across the two poplars. Furthermore, lncRNAs showed weak evolutionary conservation in sequences and exhibited diverse regulatory styles; in particular, tissue- and species-specific responses to salt stress varied greatly in two poplars, for example, 322 lncRNAs were found highly expressed in but not in var. and 3,425 lncRNAs were identified to be species-specific in in response to salt stress. Moreover, tissue-specific expression of lncRNAs in two poplars were identified with predicted target genes included , , , involved in regulating plant growth and the plant stress response. Taken together, the systematic analysis of lncRNAs between sister species enhances our understanding of the characteristics of lncRNAs and their roles in plant growth and salt response.
长链非编码RNA（lncRNAs）参与多种生物调控过程，但其在植物耐盐胁迫中的作用仍 largely未知。为系统探究lncRNAs的特征及其在植物盐响应中的作用，我们对两种近缘杨树（和变种）经盐处理的四种组织类型进行了链特异性RNA测序，分别鉴定出10,646个和10,531个lncRNAs。这些lncRNAs在长度、表达和表达校正方面的值显著低于mRNA。我们进一步发现，在这两种杨树中，约40%和60%的已鉴定lncRNAs以组织特异性表达模式对盐胁迫作出响应。此外，lncRNAs在序列上显示出较弱的进化保守性，并表现出多样的调控方式；特别是，两种杨树对盐胁迫的组织特异性和物种特异性响应差异很大，例如，发现322个lncRNAs在中高表达但在变种中不高表达，并且鉴定出3,425个lncRNAs在中是响应盐胁迫的物种特异性lncRNAs。此外，在两种杨树中鉴定出lncRNAs的组织特异性表达，其预测的靶基因包括、、、，参与调节植物生长和植物应激反应。综上所述，对姊妹物种间lncRNAs的系统分析增强了我们对lncRNAs特征及其在植物生长和盐响应中作用的理解。
