Abstract
Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) regulate gene expression and are crucial for plant growth and development. However, the mechanisms underlying the effects of activated lncRNAs on axillary bud development remain largely unknown. By lncRNA transcriptomes of axillary buds in topped and untopped tobacco plants, we identified a total of 13,694 lncRNAs. LncRNA analysis indicated that the promoted growth of axillary bud by topping might be partially ascribed to the genes related to hormone signal transduction and glycometabolism, trans-regulated by differentially expressed lncRNAs, such as MSTRG.52498.1, MSTRG.60026.1, MSTRG.17770.1, and MSTRG.32431.1. Metabolite profiling indicated that auxin, abscisic acid and gibberellin were decreased in axillary buds of topped tobacco lines, while cytokinin was increased, consistent with the expression levels of related lncRNAs. MSTRG.52498.1, MSTRG.60026.1, MSTRG.17770.1, and MSTRG.32431.1 were shown to be influenced by hormones and sucrose treatments, and were associated with changes of axillary bud growth in the overexpression of NtCCD8 plants (with reduced axillary buds) and RNA interference of NtTB1 plants (with increased axillary buds). Moreover, MSTRG.28151.1 was identified as the antisense lncRNA of NtTB1. Silencing of MSTRG.28151.1 in tobacco significantly attenuated the expression of NtTB1 and resulted in larger axillary buds, suggesting the vital function of MSTRG.28151.1 axillary bud developmen by NtTB1. Our findings shed light on lncRNA-mRNA interactions and their functional roles in axillary bud growth, which would improve our understanding of lncRNAs as important regulators of axillary bud development and plant architecture.
Highlights
Long non-coding RNAs are RNAs longer than 200 bp and lack encoding capability (Kapranov et al, 2007; Dinger et al, 2009)
The lower axillary buds in the topping group showed little change at 3, 12, and 24 h, compared with the plants topping and untopped plants (Figure 1). These results indicated that the development of the upper axillary buds was influenced earlier in response to topping than the lower axillary buds
We performed a dynamic Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs)-seq of tobacco during different stages of axillary bud development
Summary
Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are RNAs longer than 200 bp and lack encoding capability (Kapranov et al, 2007; Dinger et al, 2009). Plant lncRNAs can play roles at the transcriptional, posttranscriptional, and epigenetic levels, and are characterized by epigenetic markers, developmental stages, and tissue-specific expression (Zhang et al, 2013). LncRNAs Regulate Axillary Bud Growth lncRNAs related to biological and abiotic stresses in Arabidopsis thaliana (Liu et al, 2012), 2,224 lncRNAs in rice (Zhang et al, 2014), and 2,542 drought-responsive lncRNAs in poplar (Shuai et al, 2014). Plant lncRNAs are involved in the regulation of plant flowering, stress response, reproductive growth, and other vegetation processes. The lncRNA, FLORE, is involved in circadian rhythm regulation and affects plant flowering during vernalization (Henriques et al, 2017). T5120, is a crucial regulator of nitrate response and assimilation in Arabidopsis (Liu F. et al, 2019), and lncRNA1459 inhibits ethylene synthesis and lycopene accumulation in tobacco (Li et al, 2018). LncRNA354 plays an important role in regulating salt tolerance in upland cotton (Zhang et al, 2021), and genomewide analysis has revealed the role of lncRNAs in regulating heat tolerance in Chinese cabbage (Song et al, 2021)
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