Genome-Wide Analyses of Calcium Sensors Reveal Their Involvement in Drought Stress Response and Storage Roots Deterioration after Harvest in Cassava

Abstract

Calcium (Ca2+) plays a crucial role in plant development and responses to environmental stimuli. Currently, calmodulins (CaMs), calmodulin-like proteins (CMLs), and calcineurin B-like proteins (CBLs), such as Ca2+ sensors, are not well understood in cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz), an important tropical crop. In the present study, 8 CaMs, 48 CMLs, and 9 CBLs were genome-wide identified in cassava, which were divided into two, four, and four groups, respectively, based on evolutionary relationship, protein motif, and gene structure analyses. Transcriptomic analysis revealed the expression diversity of cassava CaMs-CMLs-CBLs in distinct tissues and in response to drought stress in different genotypes. Generally, cassava CaMs-CMLs-CBLs showed different expression profiles between cultivated varieties (Arg7 and SC124) and wild ancestor (W14) after drought treatment. In addition, numerous CaMs-CMLs-CBLs were significantly upregulated at 6 h, 12 h, and 48 h after harvest, suggesting their possible role during storage roots (SR) deterioration. Further interaction network and co-expression analyses suggested that a CBL-mediated interaction network was widely involved in SR deterioration. Taken together, this study provides new insights into CaMs-CMLs-CBLs-mediated drought adaption and SR deterioration at the transcription level in cassava, and identifies some candidates for the genetic improvement of cassava.

Genome-Wide Analysis of the Apple CBL Family Reveals That Mdcbl10.1 Functions Positively in Modulating Apple Salt Tolerance

“…Studies in various fruit tree crops also have shown that Ca 2+ plays an important role in regulating fruit development, ripening, quality, and storage [43][44][45][46][47]. The CBL family has been identified and systematically studied in many plant species, such as dicotyledons Arabidopsis (10 AtCBLs) [33,48], eggplant (5 SmCBLs) [36], cotton (13 GaCBLs, 13 GrCBLs, 22 GhCBLs) [1], Cassava (9 MeCBLs) [12], pepper (9 CaCBLs) [10], tea plant (7 CsCBLs) [32], and pigeon pea (9 CcCBLs) [49], as well as the monocotyledon rice (10 OsCBLs) [33,48], due to the important role of CBL proteins in Ca 2+ signaling. The CBL family has also been identified in some fruit trees such as grapevine (8 VvCBLs) [8], banana (11 MaCBLs) [50], and pineapple (8 AcCBLs) [11].…”

“…Sensor responder proteins, such as CaMs and Ca 2+ -dependent protein kinases (CDPKs), have all the functions of Ca 2+ sensor relay proteins as well as the kinase activity [8,10,11]. As a result, CaMs, CMLs, CDPKs, and CBLs constitute sensors in the Ca 2+ signal transduction pathway [12]. CaM is a ubiquitous conserved Ca 2+ -binding protein found in both animals and plants.…”

The Late Embryogenesis Abundant Protein Family in Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz): Genome-Wide Characterization and Expression during Abiotic Stress

“…In addition, gene families involved in ABA and calcium signal transduction were identified from the cassava genome. Some members were widely responsive to drought, osmotic, cold, salt, and ABA at transcriptional levels [ 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 ]. Together, these evidences suggested that phytohormone metabolism, signaling transduction and secondary metabolites biosynthesis play a crucial role in cassava tolerance to abiotic stress.…”

Physiological and proteomic analysis on long-term drought resistance of cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz)

“…Genetic improvement for drought adaptation in cassava is also being enhanced by characterizing the crucial genes of the plant’s responding factors to abiotic stress, i.e. ethylene response factor family genes 7 , aquaporin family genes 8 , TCP transcription factors 9 , the mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinases gene family 10 , calcium sensors 11 , the KT/HAK/KUP family 12 , the late embryogenesis abundant protein family 13 .…”