De Novo Transcriptome Assembly of Rice Bean (<i>Vigna umbellata</i>) and Characterization of WRKY Transcription Factors Response to Aluminum Stress
Gunasekaran Ariharasutharsan,
Manoharan Akilan,
Manickam Dhasarathan,
Manivel Amaravel,
Sankaran Divya,
Mariyappan Deivamani,
Manickam Sudha,
Muthaiyan Pandiyan,
Adhimoolam Karthikeyan,
Natesan Senthil
Affiliations
Gunasekaran Ariharasutharsan
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Centre for Plant Breeding and Genetics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore 641003, India
Manoharan Akilan
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Anbil Dharmalingam Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Trichy 620027, India
Manickam Dhasarathan
Department of Biotechnology, Centre of Excellence for Innovation, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Madurai 625105, India
Manivel Amaravel
Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Centre for Plant Breeding and Genetics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore 641003, India
Sankaran Divya
Department of Plant Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics, Center for Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore 641003, India
Mariyappan Deivamani
ICAR-Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Dharmapuri 636809, India
Manickam Sudha
Department of Plant Biotechnology, Center for Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore 641003, India
Muthaiyan Pandiyan
Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Eachangkottai, Thanjavur 614902, India
Adhimoolam Karthikeyan
Department of Biotechnology, Centre of Excellence for Innovation, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Madurai 625105, India
Natesan Senthil
Department of Plant Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics, Center for Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore 641003, India
Rice bean is an underutilized legume crop cultivated in Asia, and it is a good source of protein, minerals, and essential fatty acids for human consumption. Moreover, the leaves left over after harvesting rice bean seeds contain various biological constituents beneficial to humans and animals. In our study, we performed a de-novo transcriptome assembly of rice bean, characterized the WRKY transcription factors, and studied their response to aluminum stress. A total of 46.6 million clean reads, with a GC value of 43%, were generated via transcriptome sequencing. De novo assembly of the clean reads resulted in 90,933 transcripts and 74,926 unigenes, with minimum and maximum lengths of 301 bp and 24,052 bp, and N50 values of 1801 bp and 1710 bp, respectively. A total of 27,095 and 28,378 unigenes were annotated and subjected to GO and KEGG analyses. Among the unigenes, 15,593, 20,770, and 15,385 unigenes were identified in the domains of biological process, molecular function, and cellular component, respectively. A total of 16,132 unigenes were assigned to 188 pathways, including metabolic pathways (5500) and secondary metabolite biosynthesis (2858). Transcription factor analysis revealed 4860 unigenes from 98 different transcription factor families. For WRKY, a total of 95 unigenes were identified. Further analysis revealed the diverse response of WRKY transcription factors to aluminum stress. Collectively, the results of this study boost genomic resources and provide a baseline for further research on the role of WRKY transcription factors in aluminum tolerance in rice bean.
