Transcriptome Analysis in Chinese Cabbage (Brassica rapa ssp. pekinensis) Provides the Role of Glucosinolate Metabolism in Response to Drought Stress

Abstract

Although drought stress is one of the most limiting factors in growth and production of Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa L. ssp. pekinensis), the underlying biochemical and molecular causes are poorly understood. In the present study, to address the mechanisms underlying the drought responses, we analyzed the transcriptome profile of Chinese cabbage grown under drought conditions. Drought stress transcriptionally activated several transcription factor genes, including AP2/ERFs, bHLHs, NACs and bZIPs, and was found to possibly result in transcriptional variation in genes involved in organic substance metabolic processes. In addition, comparative expression analysis of selected BrbZIPs under different stress conditions suggested that drought-induced BrbZIPs are important for improving drought tolerance. Further, drought stress in Chinese cabbage caused differential acclimation responses in glucosinolate metabolism in leaves and roots. Analysis of stomatal aperture indicated that drought-induced accumulation of glucosinolates in leaves directly or indirectly controlled stomatal closure to prevent water loss, suggesting that organ-specific responses are essential for plant survival under drought stress condition. Taken together, our results provide information important for further studies on molecular mechanisms of drought tolerance in Chinese cabbage.

Arabidopsis DGD1 SUPPRESSOR1 Is a Subunit of the Mitochondrial Contact Site and Cristae Organizing System and Affects Mitochondrial Biogenesis

“…Although most of the altered responses represent a dampened stress response due to the increased drought tolerance of dgs1-1 plants, a small set of genes involved in sulfur metabolism and glucosinolate biosynthesis was mis-expressed in these lines ( Figure 7B). Upregulation of glucosinolate biosynthesis and metabolism has been linked to responses to drought stress (Eom et al, 2018). A positive regulator of glucosinolate metabolism in Arabidopsis, MYB29, has been previously shown to be a negative regulator of AOX expression (Zhang et al, 2017), and this may account for the reduction of AOX observed in the dgs1-1 lines ( Figure 5A).…”

Identification and Functional Prediction of Drought-Responsive Long Non-Coding RNA in Tomato

“…RNA-seq data from drought-treated tomato leaf samples were obtained from the National Agricultural Biotechnology Information Center (NABIC, http://nabic.rda.go.kr) with accession number NN-5505 [21]. Then, the quality of the raw data was controlled by using the FastQC tool and Trimmomatic v.0.33 as described by Eom et al [5]. The clean reads were mapped to the tomato reference sequence (Tomato Genome version SL3.0 and Annotation ITAG3.10, https://solgenomics.net/ organism/Solanum_lycopersicum/genome), using the HISAT2 aligner (http://ccb.jhu.edu/software/ hisat2/index.shtml ).…”

“…Droughts led to global cereal (maize, rice, and wheat) production deficits of 10.1% on average during the past four decades [4]. Under drought conditions, crops display various physiological and biochemical responses, including stomatal movement (the opening or closing of stomata), morphological changes (repression of cell growth and development),and alteration in biosynthetic pathways, antioxidant pathways, and respiration pathways; all of these aid survival in this unfavorable climate [5]. Understanding drought-induced molecular and physiological mechanisms is necessary for successful yield protection in the context of drought.…”

Genome-wide identification and evolutionary analysis of neutral/alkaline invertases in Brassica rapa

“…To analyze the expression patterns of BraNIN genes, we used RNA-seq data of drought treated-Chinese cabbage [22]. L1 (R1), L2 (R2) and L3 (R3) indicated leaf (root) samples obtained from Stage 1 (nonstressed condition), Stage 2 (soil water content of 20%) and Stage 3 (soil water content of 5%) plants, respectively.…”

“…L1 (R1), L2 (R2) and L3 (R3) indicated leaf (root) samples obtained from Stage 1 (nonstressed condition), Stage 2 (soil water content of 20%) and Stage 3 (soil water content of 5%) plants, respectively. Transcript levels were calculated using SAMtools (http://samtools.sourceforge.net/) and relative transcript abundances were analyzed using DEseq as described by Eom et al [22].…”