Abstract
BackgroundBread wheat (Triticum aestivum) is an important staple cereal grain worldwide. The ever-increasing environmental stress makes it very important to mine stress-resistant genes for wheat breeding programs. Therefore, dehydrin (DHN) genes can be considered primary candidates for such programs, since they respond to multiple stressors.ResultsIn this study, we performed a genome-wide analysis of the DHN gene family in the genomes of wheat and its three relatives. We found 55 DHN genes in T. aestivum, 31 in T. dicoccoides, 15 in T. urartu, and 16 in Aegilops tauschii. The phylogenetic, synteny, and sequence analyses showed we can divide the DHN genes into five groups. Genes in the same group shared similar conserved motifs and potential function. The tandem TaDHN genes responded strongly to drought, cold, and high salinity stresses, while the non-tandem genes respond poorly to all stress conditions. According to the interaction network analysis, the cooperation of multiple DHN proteins was vital for plants in combating abiotic stress.ConclusionsConserved, duplicated DHN genes may be important for wheat being adaptable to a different stress conditions, thus contributing to its worldwide distribution as a staple food. This study not only highlights the role of DHN genes help the Triticeae species against abiotic stresses, but also provides vital information for the future functional studies in these crops.
Highlights
Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) is an important staple cereal grain worldwide
Using a comprehensive approach in this study, we identified 55 DHN genes in hexaploid bread wheat (T. aestivum), 31 in Identification of DHN genes in bread wheat and its relatives According to the chromosomal distribution and homologous relationship of the DHN gene family (Fig. 2 and Table S1), they were unevenly distributed among different homologous groups, with most being distributed in homologous groups 5 and 6
We observed the translocation events occurred on T. urartu 4A chromosome; TaDHN3-A/B/D, TdDHN3-A/B, and AetDHN3-D were distributed on the homologous group 4 distal long arm; while TuDHN3 was located on the distal short arm
Summary
Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) is an important staple cereal grain worldwide. The ever-increasing environmental stress makes it very important to mine stress-resistant genes for wheat breeding programs. Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) is an important staple cereal crop providing ~ 20% of the global dietary protein and calories [1, 2]. Dehydrins (DHNs) are a class of highly hydrophilic, stress-responsive proteins rich in charged and polar amino acids [15, 16] These proteins accumulate during late embryogenesis and are induced in vegetative tissues by several cell-dehydrating environmental stressors like drought, salinity, and cold [17]. Based on their sequence characteristics, DHNs are defined as proteins containing at least one copy of a conserved motif called the K-segment [18, 19]. Based on the presence of these conserved motifs (K-, S-, and Y-segment), DHNs are classified into different categories of YnSKn, YnKn, SKn, KnS, and Kn [18, 19, 26]
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