State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, College of Agronomy, Shandong Agricultural University, Taian, 271018, China.
College of Forestry, Shandong Agricultural University, Taian, 271018, China.
BMC Genomics. 2022 Jan 23;23(1):73. doi: 10.1186/s12864-022-08317-x.
Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) is an important staple cereal grain worldwide. The ever-increasing environmental stress makes it very important to mine stress-resistant genes for wheat breeding programs. Therefore, dehydrin (DHN) genes can be considered primary candidates for such programs, since they respond to multiple stressors.
In this study, we performed a genome-wide analysis of the DHN gene family in the genomes of wheat and its three relatives. We found 55 DHN genes in T. aestivum, 31 in T. dicoccoides, 15 in T. urartu, and 16 in Aegilops tauschii. The phylogenetic, synteny, and sequence analyses showed we can divide the DHN genes into five groups. Genes in the same group shared similar conserved motifs and potential function. The tandem TaDHN genes responded strongly to drought, cold, and high salinity stresses, while the non-tandem genes respond poorly to all stress conditions. According to the interaction network analysis, the cooperation of multiple DHN proteins was vital for plants in combating abiotic stress.
Conserved, duplicated DHN genes may be important for wheat being adaptable to a different stress conditions, thus contributing to its worldwide distribution as a staple food. This study not only highlights the role of DHN genes help the Triticeae species against abiotic stresses, but also provides vital information for the future functional studies in these crops.
小麦是全球重要的主食谷物。不断增加的环境压力使得挖掘抗逆基因应用于小麦育种计划变得非常重要。因此，脱水素（DHN）基因可以被视为这类计划的主要候选基因，因为它们对多种胁迫有响应。
在这项研究中，我们对小麦及其三个近缘种的基因组中的 DHN 基因家族进行了全基因组分析。我们在 T. aestivum 中发现了 55 个 DHN 基因，在 T. dicoccoides 中发现了 31 个，在 T. urartu 中发现了 15 个，在 Aegilops tauschii 中发现了 16 个。系统发育、共线性和序列分析表明，我们可以将 DHN 基因分为五个组。同一组的基因具有相似的保守基序和潜在功能。串联 TaDHN 基因对干旱、寒冷和高盐胁迫反应强烈，而非串联基因对所有胁迫条件的反应都较差。根据互作网络分析，多个 DHN 蛋白的协同作用对于植物应对非生物胁迫至关重要。
保守、重复的 DHN 基因可能对小麦适应不同的胁迫条件很重要，从而有助于其作为主食在全球范围内的分布。本研究不仅强调了 DHN 基因在帮助禾本科物种应对非生物胁迫方面的作用，还为这些作物的未来功能研究提供了重要信息。
