Wang Ting, Wang Fanhua, Deng Shuhan, Wang Kailai, Feng Dan, Xu Fan, Guo Weijun, Yu Jia, Wu Yue, Wuriyanghan Hada, Li Shang-Tong, Gu Xiaofeng, Le Liang, Pu Li
Biotechnology Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.
Shangrao Normal University, Shangrao, China.
Nat Commun. 2025 Jan 2;16(1):177. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-55485-3.
Plant roots perceive heat stress (HS) and adapt their architecture accordingly, which in turn influence the yield in crops. Investigating their heterogeneity and cell type-specific response to HS is essential for improving crop resilience. Here, we generate single-cell transcriptional landscape of maize (Zea mays) roots in response to HS. We characterize 15 cell clusters corresponding to 9 major cell types and identify cortex as the main root cell type responsive to HS with the most differentially expressed genes and its trajectory being preferentially affected upon HS. We find that cortex size strongly correlated with heat tolerance that is experimentally validated by using inbred lines and genetic mutation analysis of one candidate gene in maize, providing potential HS tolerance indicator and targets for crop improvement. Moreover, interspecies comparison reveals conserved root cell types and core markers in response to HS in plants, which are experimentally validated. These results provide a universal atlas for unraveling the transcriptional programs that specify and maintain the cell identity of maize roots in response to HS at a cell type-specific level.
植物根系感知热胁迫（HS）并相应地调整其结构，这反过来又会影响作物产量。研究其异质性和细胞类型对热胁迫的特异性反应对于提高作物抗逆性至关重要。在此，我们生成了玉米（Zea mays）根系响应热胁迫的单细胞转录图谱。我们鉴定出对应于9种主要细胞类型的15个细胞簇，并确定皮层是对热胁迫响应的主要根细胞类型，具有最多的差异表达基因，且其轨迹在热胁迫下优先受到影响。我们发现皮层大小与耐热性密切相关，通过使用自交系和对玉米中一个候选基因进行基因突变分析进行了实验验证，这为作物改良提供了潜在的热胁迫耐受性指标和靶点。此外，种间比较揭示了植物中响应热胁迫的保守根细胞类型和核心标记，并进行了实验验证。这些结果提供了一个通用图谱，用于在细胞类型特异性水平上揭示决定和维持玉米根系响应热胁迫时细胞身份的转录程序。
