Abstract
BackgroundA family of genes designated as the Zinc finger A20/AN1 Transcription factors encoding stress-associated proteins (SAP) are well described in Arabidopsis and rice, and include 14 AtSAP and 18 OsSAP genes that are associated with variable tolerances to multiple abiotic stresses. The SAP gene family displays a great diversity in its structure and across different plant species. The aim of this study was to identify all HvSAP genes in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), to analyse the expression of selected genes in response to salinity in barley leaves and develop SNP marker for HvSAP12 to evaluate the association between genotypes of barley plants and their grain yield in field trials.ResultsIn our study, 17 HvSAP genes were identified in barley, which were strongly homologous to rice genes. Five genes, HvSAP5, HvSAP6, HvSAP11, HvSAP12 and HvSAP15, were found to be highly expressed in leaves of barley plants in response to salt stress in hydroponics compared to controls, using both semi-quantitative RT-PCR and qPCR analyses. The Amplifluor-like SNP marker KATU-B30 was developed and used for HvSAP12 genotyping. A strong association (R2 = 0.85) was found between KATU-B30 and grain yield production per plant of 50 F3 breeding lines originating from the cross Granal × Baisheshek in field trials with drought and low to moderate salinity in Northern and Central Kazakhstan.ConclusionsA group of HvSAP genes, and HvSAP12 in particular, play an important role in the tolerance of barley plants to salinity and drought, and is associated with higher grain yield in field trials. Marker-assisted selection with SNP marker KATU-B30 can be applied in barley breeding to improve grain yield production under conditions of abiotic stress.
Highlights
A family of genes designated as the Zinc finger A20/AN1 Transcription factors encoding stressassociated proteins (SAP) are well described in Arabidopsis and rice, and include 14 AtSAP and 18 OsSAP genes that are associated with variable tolerances to multiple abiotic stresses
Marker-assisted selection with single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) marker Kazakh AgroTechnical University (KATU)-B30 can be applied in barley breeding to improve grain yield production under conditions of abiotic stress
The annotated barley genes HORVU2Hr1G053670 and AK363382 were identified, respectively, from the IPK and NCBI databases for HvSAP12, and 17 HvSAP genes were found in total in the barley genome, strongly homologous to rice genes (Table 1)
Summary
A family of genes designated as the Zinc finger A20/AN1 Transcription factors encoding stressassociated proteins (SAP) are well described in Arabidopsis and rice, and include 14 AtSAP and 18 OsSAP genes that are associated with variable tolerances to multiple abiotic stresses. A large group of stress-associated proteins (SAP) is encoded by zinc-finger proteins containing two conservative domains A20/AN1. In humans, these genes act as Tumor necrosis factor, TNF [1] but in plants, SAP genes play an important role in different types of abiotic and biotic stresses, and they are well known as a part of the plant immunity response (Reviewed in [2]). Barley (Hordeum vulgare), an important cereal crop, represents a gap in our knowledge in this area, with no SAP genes as yet described and studied
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