ICAR-Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal, Haryana, India.
ICAR- Indian Agricultural Statistical Research Institute, New Delhi, India.
Sci Rep. 2021 Mar 10;11(1):5548. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-85220-7.
Soil salinity is one of the major limiting factors for crop productivity across the world. Halophytes have recently been a source of attraction for exploring the survival and tolerance mechanisms at extreme saline conditions. Urochondra setulosa is one of the obligate grass halophyte that can survive in up to 1000 mM NaCl. The de novo transcriptome of Urochondra leaves at different salt concentrations of 300-500 mM NaCl was generated on Illumina HiSeq. Approximately 352.78 million high quality reads with an average contig length of 1259 bp were assembled de novo. A total of 120,231 unigenes were identified. On an average, 65% unigenes were functionally annotated to known proteins. Approximately 35% unigenes were specific to Urochondra. Differential expression revealed significant enrichment (P < 0.05) of transcription factors, transporters and metabolites suggesting the transcriptional regulation of ion homeostasis and signalling at high salt concentrations in this grass. Also, about 143 unigenes were biologically related to salt stress responsive genes. Randomly selected genes of important pathways were validated for functional characterization. This study provides useful information to understand the gene regulation at extremely saline levels. The study offers the first comprehensive evaluation of Urochondra setulosa leaf transcriptome. Examining non-model organisms that can survive in harsh environment can provide novel insights into the stress coping mechanisms which can be useful to develop improved agricultural crops.
土壤盐度是全球作物生产力的主要限制因素之一。盐生植物最近成为探索极端盐环境下生存和耐受机制的来源。Urochondra setulosa 是一种专性盐生草，可以在高达 1000 mM NaCl 的盐度下存活。在 Illumina HiSeq 上，对 Urochondra 叶片在不同盐浓度 300-500 mM NaCl 下的从头转录组进行了生成。大约 3.5278 亿个高质量读数，平均 contig 长度为 1259 bp，从头组装。共鉴定到 120231 个 unigenes。平均而言，65%的 unigenes被注释到已知蛋白。大约 35%的 unigenes是 Urochondra 特有的。差异表达显示转录因子、转运蛋白和代谢物的显著富集（P < 0.05），表明在这种草中高盐浓度下离子稳态和信号的转录调控。此外，约 143 个 unigenes与盐胁迫响应基因具有生物学相关性。随机选择重要途径的基因进行功能表征。本研究为理解极端盐水平下的基因调控提供了有用的信息。该研究首次对 Urochondra setulosa 叶片转录组进行了全面评估。研究能够在恶劣环境中生存的非模式生物，可以深入了解应对压力的机制，这对于开发改良的农业作物可能是有用的。
