Abstract
Seed-borne endophyte Epichloë gansuensis enhance NaCl tolerance in Achnatherum inebrians and increase its biomass. However, the molecular mechanism by which E. gansuensis increases the tolerance of host grasses to NaCl stress is unclear. Hence, we firstly explored the full-length transcriptome information of A. inebrians by PacBio RS II. In this work, we obtained 738,588 full-length non-chimeric reads, 36,105 transcript sequences and 27,202 complete CDSs from A. inebrians. We identified 3558 transcription factors (TFs), 15,945 simple sequence repeats and 963 long non-coding RNAs of A. inebrians. The present results show that 2464 and 1817 genes were differentially expressed by E. gansuensis in the leaves of E+ and E− plants at 0 mM and 200 mM NaCl concentrations, respectively. In addition, NaCl stress significantly regulated 4919 DEGs and 502 DEGs in the leaves of E+ and E− plants, respectively. Transcripts associated with photosynthesis, plant hormone signal transduction, amino acids metabolism, flavonoid biosynthetic process and WRKY TFs were differentially expressed by E. gansuensis; importantly, E. gansuensis up-regulated biology processes (brassinosteroid biosynthesis, oxidation–reduction, cellular calcium ion homeostasis, carotene biosynthesis, positive regulation of proteasomal ubiquitin-dependent protein catabolism and proanthocyanidin biosynthesis) of host grass under NaCl stress, which indicated an increase in the ability of host grasses’ adaptation to NaCl stress. In conclusion, our study demonstrates the molecular mechanism for E. gansuensis to increase the tolerance to salt stress in the host, which provides a theoretical basis for the molecular breed to create salt-tolerant forage with endophytes.
Highlights
Plants, as a sessile life form, are continuously exposed to environmental changes
Our study aims to explore the full-length transcriptome information of A. inebrians, determine key signal pathways and identify the differentially expressed genes in the host grasses due to the presence of E. gansuensis symbiont at two salt concentrations
The present study provides insights into a molecular mechanism of E. gansuensis to increase the tolerance of host grasses to NaCl stress by exploring the full-length transcriptome information of A. inebrians and carrying out the transcriptome of leaves of E+ and E− plants at 0 mM NaCl and 200 mM NaCl concentrations
Summary
As a sessile life form, are continuously exposed to environmental changes. they usually adapt to different environmental changes by regulating their physiological processes to balance the growth requirements and respond to extreme temperatures, excessive light, water availability, limiting nutrients, high salt environments and pathogen/insect attacks [1,2,3]. A. inebrians, together with the seed-borne endophytic fungi Epichloë gansuensis, forms a symbiotic relationship [5], which is an important factor for its adaptability and productivity to biotic and abiotic stresses [6,7,8]. This symbiosis provides several advantages to A. inebrians, including salt- and drought-stress resistance, enhanced water- and nitrogen-use efficiency and increased biomass [8,9,10]. The molecular mechanism of these changes caused by Epichloë have not yet been explored
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