Genome-wide characterization of early response genes to abscisic acid coordinating multiple pathways in Aegilops tauschii
Yu Wei,
Liangjing Cao,
Xucheng Huang,
Xuan Wang,
Huan Wang,
Yongchao Song,
Qiang He,
Mingjie Lyu,
Xinwen Hu,
Jun Liu
Affiliations
Yu Wei
National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Liangjing Cao
National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China; Institute of Tropical Agriculture and Forestry, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, Hainan, China
Xucheng Huang
National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Xuan Wang
Institute of Tropical Agriculture and Forestry, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, Hainan, China; Department of Biological Sciences, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou 215123, Jiangsu, China
Huan Wang
Biotechnology Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Yongchao Song
National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Qiang He
National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Mingjie Lyu
National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Xinwen Hu
Institute of Tropical Agriculture and Forestry, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, Hainan, China
Jun Liu
National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China; Corresponding author.
The diploid wild goat grass Aegilops tauschii (Ae. tauschii, 2n = 14; DD), as the D-sub genome of common wheat, provides rich germplasm resources for many aspects of wheat breeding. Abscisic acid (ABA) is an essential phytohormone that plays a pivotal role in plant adaptation to abiotic stresses. However, the gene regulation network of Ae. tauschii in response to ABA stress remains unclear. Here, we conducted a time-course strand-specific RNA-sequencing study to globally profile the transcriptome that responded to ABA treatment in Ae. tauschii. We identified 4818 differentially expressed transcription units/genes with time-point-specific induction/repression patterns. Using functional annotation, one-to-one ortholog and comparative transcriptome profiling analyses, we identified 319 ABA-responsive Ae. tauschii orthologs that were also induced/repressed under ABA treatment in hexaploid wheat. On the quantitative trait loci (QTL) used in wheat marker-assisted breeding, we found that the ABA-responsive expression patterns of eight Ae. tauschii orthologs were associated with drought stress tolerance, flowering process and/or grain quality. Of them, the ABA-responsive gene encoding sucrose:sucrose 1-fructosyltransferase in fructan and glucose metabolism pathways showed the most significant association with wheat drought tolerance. The characterization of ABA early-responsive genes in this study provides valuable information for exploring the molecular functions of the regulatory genes and will assist in wheat breeding.
