Abstract
Climate change has been associated with a higher incidence of combined adverse environmental conditions that can promote a significant decrease in crop productivity. However, knowledge on how a combination of stresses might affect plant development is still scarce. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been proposed as potential targets for improving crop productivity. Here, we have combined deep-sequencing, computational characterization of responsive miRNAs and validation of their regulatory role in a comprehensive analysis of response of melon to several combinations of four stresses (cold, salinity, short day, and infection with a fungus). Twenty-two miRNA families responding to double and/or triple stresses were identified. The regulatory role of the differentially expressed miRNAs was validated by quantitative measurements of the expression of the corresponding target genes. A high proportion (ca. 60%) of these families (mainly highly conserved miRNAs targeting transcription factors) showed a non-additive response to multiple stresses in comparison with that observed under each one of the stresses individually. Among those miRNAs showing non-additive response to stress combinations, most interactions were negative, suggesting the existence of functional convergence in the miRNA-mediated response to combined stresses. Taken together, our results provide compelling pieces of evidence that the response to combined stresses cannot be easily predicted from the study individual stresses.
Highlights
During their life cycle, plants are exposed to a wide array of adverse environmental conditions that, in general, limit their normal development and productivity
High-throughput sequencing of sRNAs was performed, starting from 22 sRNA libraries constructed with RNA extracted from leaves of melon plants 11 days after exposure to six combined stress conditions: (i) cold and drought (C-D), (ii) cold and salinity (C-Sal), (iii) cold and short day (C-SD), (iv) drought and salinity (D-Sal), (v) drought and M. cannonballus infection (D-Mon), and (vi) cold, salinity, and short day (C-Sal-SD) (Supplementary Table 1)
Much effort has been dedicated to elucidating the mechanisms underlying stress response in crops
Summary
Plants are exposed to a wide array of adverse environmental conditions that, in general, limit their normal development and productivity. These complex interactions result in several stress situations that disturb the homeostasis of the cell, negatively affecting plant growth. As a consequence of this complex environmental scenario, it is expected that combined abiotic and biotic stresses can affect plants at the level of molecular functions, developmental processes, morphological traits, and physiology, resulting in a significant decrease in crop production and quality (Gray and Brady, 2016; Morales-Castilla et al, 2020)
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