Co-expression network of transcription factors reveal ethylene-responsive element-binding factor as key regulator of wood phenotype in Eucalyptus tereticornis

Abstract

Suitability of wood biomass for pulp production is dependent on the cellular architecture and composition of secondary cell wall. Presently, systems genetics approach is being employed to understand the molecular basis of trait variation and co-expression network analysis has enabled holistic understanding of complex trait such as secondary development. Transcription factors (TFs) are reported as key regulators of meristematic growth and wood formation. The hierarchical TF network is a multi-layered system which interacts with downstream structural genes involved in biosynthesis of cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin. Several TFs have been associated with wood formation in tree species such as and. However, TF-specific co-expression networks to understand the interaction between these regulators are not reported. In the present study, co-expression network was developed for TFs expressed during wood formation in and ethylene-responsive element-binding factor,, was identified as the major hub transcript which co-expressed with other secondary cell wall biogenesis-specific TFs such as and. This study reveals a probable role of ethylene in determining natural variation in wood properties in species. Understanding this transcriptional regulation underpinning the complex bio-processing trait of wood biomass will complement the breeding program through selection of industrially suitable phenotypes by marker-assisted selection.

Exploring the Cunninghamia lanceolata(Lamb.) Hook Genome by BAC Sequencing

“…Despite these challenges, Chinese fir genomic resources such as sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) ( Wang et al, 2014 ), single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) ( Zheng et al, 2019 ), amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) ( Tang et al, 2008 ), expressed sequence tags (ESTs) ( Wang et al, 2007a ), simple sequence repeat (SSR) ( Lin et al, 2020 ), cp genome sequence ( Zheng et al, 2016 ), and transcriptome data are available ( Zhang et al, 2016 ). For example, SRAP markers were used to assess genomic variability among 327 Chinese fir genotypes and preliminarily identified 163 significant marker-trait associations for mature growth and wood property traits ( Zheng et al, 2015 ; Dharanishanthi and Ghosh Dasgupta, 2018 ). The genetic diversity and relationships of 150 Chinese fir genotypes were investigated using morphological analysis and sequence-related amplified polymorphism markers.…”