Screening of Candidate Genes Resistant to Drought Stress in Wheat Leaves Based on Transcriptome Sequencing

Abstract

【Objective】The study was carried out to identify key genes in response to drought stress in wheat through transcriptome sequencing.【Method】By using Illumina HiSeq 2500 sequencing platform, sequencing was employed to Zhengmai 366 exposed to the control and natural drought stress, and the sequencing data were analyzed.【Result】45 471 018 and 45 133 470 clean reads were obtained from the two sets of samples, containing 6.82 Gb and 6.39 Gb base information, respectively. After splicing and assembly, 188 334 transcripts and 119 588 Unigenes were obtained. A total of 1 207 DEGs were screened, of which 752 were up-regulated and 455 were down-regulated. GO functional enrichment analysis showed that the up-regulated DEGs were mainly enriched in hydrolase activity, catalytic activity, metabolic process, glycerol metabolism, membrane and cell parts, etc.; however, down-regulated DEGs were mostly enriched in organelles, cells and oxidoreductase activities. KEGG pathway enrichment analysis showed that DEGs were significantly enriched in starch and sucrose metabolism, porphyrin and chlorophyll metabolism, photosynthesis-antenna protein, photosynthesis, phenylpropane biosynthesis, glyoxylic acid and dicarboxylic acid metabolism, glycerophospholipid metabolism, amino acid metabolism and carbon fixation in photosynthetic organisms. The qRT-PCR results of 5 antioxidant enzyme genes were consistent with RNA-Seq sequencing results.【Conclusion】A large number of wheat drought-resistant genes are obtained by transcriptome sequencing technology, which provides more genetic resources for further study of the molecular mechanism of wheat response to drought stress.

Keywords

• wheat
• drought stress
• rna-seq technology
• go function enrichment
• kegg metabolic pathway