Physiological and Transcriptomic Analyses Reveal Exogenous Trehalose Is Involved in the Responses of Wheat Roots to High Temperature Stress

Abstract

High temperature stress seriously limits the yield and quality of wheat. Trehalose, a non-reducing disaccharide, has been shown involved in regulating plant responses to a variety of environmental stresses. This study aimed to explore the molecular regulatory network of exogenous trehalose to improve wheat heat tolerance through RNA-sequencing technology and physiological determination. The physiological data and RNA-seq showed that trehalose reduced malondialdehyde content and relative conductivity in wheat roots, and affecting the phenylpropane biosynthesis, starch and sucrose metabolism, glutathione metabolism, and other pathways. Our results showed that exogenous trehalose alleviates the oxidative damage caused by high temperature, coordinating the effect of wheat on heat stress by re-encoding the overall gene expression, but two wheat varieties showed different responses to high temperature stress after trehalose pretreatment. This study preliminarily revealed the effect of trehalose on gene expression regulation of wheat roots under high temperature stress, which provided a reference for the study of trehalose.

Mechanistic Insights Into Trehalose-Mediated Cold Stress Tolerance in Rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) Seedlings

“…Under salt stress, the exogenously applied Tre also upsurges the SS contents in Arabidopsis plants ( Yang et al, 2014 ). In a recent report, exogenous Tre improves the oxidative damage triggered by high temperature, coordinating the influence of wheat on heat stress by regulating the gene expression ( Luo et al, 2021 ). These findings indicate that exogenous Tre plays a significant part in regulating the osmotic substances because Tre participates in sugar metabolism mainly under stress conditions which are important to minimize the adverse effect of multiple stresses.…”

Salicylic Acid Treatment Alleviates the Heat Stress Response by Reducing the Intracellular ROS Level and Increasing the Cytosolic Trehalose Content in Pleurotus ostreatus

“…In Pseudomonas aeruginosa , trehalose synthesis mutants displayed seriously compromised growth under salt stress ( 40 ). Exogenous trehalose is reported to play a role in the responses of wheat roots exposed to high temperature ( 41 ). Similarly, trehalose can regulate the HSR of P. ostreatus by influencing central carbon metabolism and thus alleviating high-temperature stress ( 16 ).…”

Wheat Omics: Advancements and Opportunities

“…Transcriptomics studies have unveiled important roles played by numerous genes, gene families, transcription factors (TFs), hormones, metabolites, cofactors and microRNAs (miRNAs) in conferring tolerance to various abiotic stresses in wheat. Most significantly, the role of antioxidant enzymes, such as cytochrome P450, glutathione S-transferase, polyphenol oxidase, chitinase 2, ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and peroxidase (POD), in circumventing the adverse effects of reactive oxygen species (ROS) on proteins has been repeatedly suggested to be an important tolerance mechanism under both drought and salinity stress conditions [ 122 , 123 , 124 ]. Similarly, ABC transporters and Na + /Ca 2+ exchangers have been suggested to be the key players under salinity stress conditions.…”

“…Furthermore, underlying regulatory network at play to improve tolerance to heat was explored with the exogenous application of trehalose in wheat [ 124 ]. It was found that pretreatment with trehalose was found to alleviate the oxidative damage caused by high-temperature stress [ 124 ].…”