National Engineering Research Center of Juncao, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, China.
College of Animal Sciences (College of Bee Science), Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, China.
BMC Plant Biol. 2021 Jan 4;21(1):2. doi: 10.1186/s12870-020-02785-7.
Giant Juncao is often used as feed for livestock because of its huge biomass. However, drought stress reduces forage production by affecting the normal growth and development of plants. Therefore, investigating the molecular mechanisms of drought tolerance will provide important information for the improvement of drought tolerance in this grass.
A total of 144.96 Gb of clean data was generated and assembled into 144,806 transcripts and 93,907 unigenes. After 7 and 14 days of drought stress, a total of 16,726 and 46,492 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were observed, respectively. Compared with normal irrigation, 16,247, 23,503, and 11,598 DEGs were observed in 1, 5, and 9 days following rehydration, respectively. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analyses revealed abiotic stress-responsive genes and pathways related to catalytic activity, methyltransferase activity, transferase activity, and superoxide metabolic process. We also identified transcription factors belonging to several families, including basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH), WRKY, NAM (no apical meristem), ATAF1/2 and CUC2 (cup-shaped cotyledon) (NAC), fatty acyl-CoA reductase (FAR1), B3, myeloblastosis (MYB)-related, and basic leucine zipper (bZIP) families, which are important drought-rehydration-responsive proteins. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis was also used to analyze the RNA-seq data to predict the interrelationship between genes. Twenty modules were obtained, and four of these modules may be involved in photosynthesis and plant hormone signal transduction that respond to drought and rehydration conditions.
Our research is the first to provide a more comprehensive understanding of DEGs involved in drought stress at the transcriptome level in Giant Juncao with different drought and recovery conditions. These results may reveal insights into the molecular mechanisms of drought tolerance in Giant Juncao and provide diverse genetic resources involved in drought tolerance research.
巨菌草常被用作牲畜饲料，因为其生物量巨大。然而，干旱胁迫会影响植物的正常生长发育，从而降低饲草产量。因此，研究抗旱的分子机制将为提高这种草的抗旱性提供重要信息。
共产生了 144.96 Gb 的清洁数据，组装成 144806 条转录本和 93907 条 unigenes。在干旱胁迫 7 和 14 天后，分别观察到总共 16726 和 46492 个差异表达基因（DEGs）。与正常灌溉相比，在复水后 1、5 和 9 天，分别观察到 16247、23503 和 11598 个 DEGs。基因本体论和京都基因与基因组百科全书通路分析揭示了与非生物胁迫反应相关的基因和与催化活性、甲基转移酶活性、转移酶活性和超氧化物代谢过程相关的途径。我们还鉴定了属于几个家族的转录因子，包括基本螺旋-环-螺旋（bHLH）、WRKY、NAM（无顶端分生组织）、ATAF1/2 和 CUC2（杯状子叶）（NAC）、脂肪酸酰基辅酶 A 还原酶（FAR1）、B3、髓细胞瘤（MYB）相关和碱性亮氨酸拉链（bZIP）家族，它们是重要的干旱复水响应蛋白。加权基因共表达网络分析也被用于分析 RNA-seq 数据以预测基因之间的相互关系。获得了 20 个模块，其中 4 个模块可能参与光合作用和植物激素信号转导，以响应干旱和复水条件。
我们的研究首次在转录组水平上提供了更全面的了解，即在不同干旱和恢复条件下巨菌草中与干旱胁迫相关的差异表达基因。这些结果可能揭示了巨菌草抗旱的分子机制，并为抗旱研究提供了不同的遗传资源。
