Genome-wide identification and multiple abiotic stress transcript profiling of potassium transport gene homologs in Sorghum bicolor

Abstract

Potassium (K+) is the most abundant cation that plays a crucial role in various cellular processes in plants. Plants have developed an efficient mechanism for the acquisition of K+ when grown in K+ deficient or saline soils. A total of 47 K+ transport gene homologs (27 HAKs, 4 HKTs, 2 KEAs, 9 AKTs, 2 KATs, 2 TPCs, and 1 VDPC) have been identified in Sorghum bicolor. Of 47 homologs, 33 were identified as K+ transporters and the remaining 14 as K+ channels. Chromosome 2 has been found as the hotspot of K+ transporters with 9 genes. Phylogenetic analysis revealed the conservation of sorghum K+ transport genes akin to Oryza sativa. Analysis of regulatory elements indicates the key roles that K+ transport genes play under different biotic and abiotic stress conditions. Digital expression data of different developmental stages disclosed that expressions were higher in milk, flowering, and tillering stages. Expression levels of the genes SbHAK27 and SbKEA2 were higher during milk, SbHAK17, SbHAK11, SbHAK18, and SbHAK7 during flowering, SbHAK18, SbHAK10, and 23 other gene expressions were elevated during tillering inferring the important role that K+ transport genes play during plant growth and development. Differential transcript expression was observed in different tissues like root, stem, and leaf under abiotic stresses such as salt, drought, heat, and cold stresses. Collectively, the in-depth genome-wide analysis and differential transcript profiling of K+ transport genes elucidate their role in ion homeostasis and stress tolerance mechanisms.

Deep learning‐enabled discovery and characterization of HKT genes in Spartina alterniflora

“…We identified 16 SaHKT genes in the S. alterniflora genome. This number is larger than that in species that have been studied to date, including Arabidopsis, rice, barley and sea barley (Hordeum marinum) (Anil Kumar et al, 2022;Byrt et al, 2014;Horie et al, 2009;Kuang et al, 2022;Mian et al, 2011;Tada, 2019). Of these species, sea barley is also a halophyte belonging to grass plants, and it has a larger genome than S. alterniflora.…”

“…HKT genes have been investigated in different plant species including one in Arabidopsis (Uozumi et al., 2000), nine in rice (Garciadeblás et al., 2003), nine in barley (Huang et al., 2008), four in sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor L.) (Anil Kumar et al., 2022), two in poplar ( Populus trichocarpa L.) and two in tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum L.) (Li et al., 2019). Halophytes are naturally salt‐tolerant plants that grow in soils with high NaCl content and can be classified into three categories according to their uptake, storage and secretion of salts: pseudohalophytes, euhalophytes and recretohalophytes (Mishra & Tanna, 2017).…”

Noninvasive Abiotic Stress Phenotyping of Vascular Plant in Each Vegetative Organ View

“…Root, stem, and leaf are homologous structures in vascular plants, meaning they share similarities in structure and evolutionary origin, although their functions may differ [ 34 ]. The root anchors the plant in the soil and absorbs water and minerals.…”