Genome-wide Identification and Characterization of Heat Shock Protein Family Reveals Role in Development and Stress Conditions in Triticum aestivum L.

Ashish Kumar,Venkatesh Chunduri,Nikhil Malhotra,Humira Sonah,Satinder Kaur,Anita Kumari,Amandeep Kaur,Jaspreet Kaur,Monika Garg,Payal Kapoor,Saloni Sharma,Aman Kumar

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-64746-2

Abstract

Heat shock proteins (HSPs) have a significant role in protein folding and are considered as prominent candidates for development of heat-tolerant crops. Understanding of wheat HSPs has great importance since wheat is severely affected by heat stress, particularly during the grain filling stage. In the present study, efforts were made to identify HSPs in wheat and to understand their role during plant development and under different stress conditions. HSPs in wheat genome were first identified by using Position-Specific Scoring Matrix (PSSMs) of known HSP domains and then also confirmed by sequence homology with already known HSPs. Collectively, 753 TaHSPs including 169 TaSHSP, 273 TaHSP40, 95 TaHSP60, 114 TaHSP70, 18 TaHSP90 and 84 TaHSP100 were identified in the wheat genome. Compared with other grass species, number of HSPs in wheat was relatively high probably due to the higher ploidy level. Large number of tandem duplication was identified in TaHSPs, especially TaSHSPs. The TaHSP genes showed random distribution on chromosomes, however, there were more TaHSPs in B and D sub-genomes as compared to the A sub-genome. Extensive computational analysis was performed using the available genomic resources to understand gene structure, gene expression and phylogentic relationship of TaHSPs. Interestingly, apart from high expression under heat stress, high expression of TaSHSP was also observed during seed development. The study provided a list of candidate HSP genes for improving thermo tolerance during developmental stages and also for understanding the seed development process in bread wheat.

Highlights

Expression, such as some HSP70s which are not detectable in flower and young silique but are present at high concentrations in dry seed and their expression levels decrease upon germination[11]
A total of 753 Heat shock proteins (HSPs) genes were identified in the wheat genome which includes 169 TaSHSP, 273 TaHSP40, 95 TaHSP60, 114 TaHSP70, 18 TaHSP90 and 84 TaHSP100
HSP family is one such gene family that is involved in tolerance against heat stress

Summary

Introduction

Expression, such as some HSP70s which are not detectable in flower and young silique but are present at high concentrations in dry seed and their expression levels decrease upon germination[11]. In wheat, very limited information is available about HSP family in spite of it being the most important food crop which is severely affected by high temperature stress in several ways, especially during grain filling[17]. Apart from a recent report where characterization of only the SHSP sub-family was reported[2], there is no significant study addressing HSPs in wheat. A comprehensive analysis of wheat HSP family was done via detailed bioinformatics analysis. This endeavor will be helpful to understand the role of HSPs under stress conditions in plants and their sequential implementation to increase thermo-tolerance in wheat

Methods

Results

Conclusion