Regulation of High-Temperature Stress Response by Small RNAs

Abstract

Temperature extremes constitute one of the most common environmental stresses that adversely affect the growth and development of plants. Transcriptional regulation of temperature stress responses, particularly involving protein-coding gene networks, has been intensively studied in recent years. High-throughput sequencing technologies enabled the detection of a great number of small RNAs that have been found to change during and following temperature stress. The precise molecular action of some of these has been elucidated in detail. In the present chapter, we summarize the current understanding of small RNA-mediated modulation of hightemperature stress-regulatory pathways including basal stress responses, acclimation, and thermo-memory. We gather evidence that suggests that small RNA network changes, involving multiple upregulated and downregulated small RNAs, balance the trade-off between growth/development and stress responses, in order to ensure successful adaptation. We highlight specific characteristics of small RNA-based temperature stress regulation in crop plants. Finally, we explore the perspectives of the use of small RNAs in breeding to improve stress tolerance, which may be relevant for agriculture in the near future.

Genome-Wide Identification of RNA Silencing-Related Genes and Their Expressional Analysis in Response to Heat Stress in Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.)

“…Heat stress is a major threat to barley crop yield and quality. Previous studies demonstrated the heat-regulated changes of specific miRNAs, ta-siRNAs, hc-siRNAs despite the rather stable global level of sRNAs [53,54,58,[145][146][147][148]. Transcription of silencing trans factor is also modulated by heat.…”

“…There are a number of signal transduction pathways that initiate cellular responses in order to repair or prevent further damage [ 51 , 52 ]. sRNAs have been proposed to actively take part in fine-tuning the balance between development and stress responses during stress and in the post-stress period [ 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 ].…”

Plant responses to temperature stress modulated by microRNAs

“…After being exposed to heat stress, the CSA‐miR159 genes (b‐variant) of Cucumis sativus plants were discovered to be repressible (Li et al 2016). However, in Arabidopsis , the reverse effect was observed upon overexpressing the same gene (Szaker et al 2020). Compared to WT C. sativus plants, overexpression of another gene variant termed tamilR159 was observed to respond to minor temperature differences (Li et al 2016).…”