Identification of Rehmannia glutinosa L. NB-ARC family proteins and their typical changes under consecutive monoculture stress

Abstract

NB-ARC proteins are critical to effector-triggered immunity and play important roles in effector recognition and signal transduction in healthy plant growth. However, their primary protein traits, functions and roles remain incompletely understood in Rehmannia glutinosa. Here, we identified 45 NB-ARC protein sequences from the protein sequence sets and transcriptome of R. glutinosa. The CC type was the main one, accounting for 84.44% of these sequences. The most conserved motif was a 288 aa ADP-binding sequence. This motif belongs to the disease-resistance proteins. Differential expression of 36 expressed NB-ARC genes revealed that NB-ARC genes were rarely expressed 30 days after planting and were frequently expressed approximately 60 days after planting. To further understand the function of NB-ARC in replanted R. glutinosa, the genes encoding NB-ARC domains were profiled using qRT-PCR under the different stress states involved in the formation of consecutive monoculture problems. The results showed that NB-ARC genes might play a role in the formation of R. glutinosa consecutive monoculture problems. This study is the first to identify NB-ARC genes in R. glutinosa and to reveal their roles in consecutive monoculture problems in R. glutinosa. These findings provide insights into the mechanism of formation of consecutive monoculture problems.