Integrated transcriptome and proteome analysis reveals complex regulatory mechanism of cotton in response to salt stress

Lin Chen,Jie Kong,Heng Sun,Xiyan Yang,Haijiang Xu

doi:10.1186/s42397-021-00085-5

Abstract

BackgroundSoil salt stress seriously restricts the yield and quality of cotton worldwide. To investigate the molecular mechanism of cotton response to salt stress, a main cultivated variety Gossypium hirsutum L. acc. Xinluzhong 54 was used to perform transcriptome and proteome integrated analysis.ResultsThrough transcriptome analysis in cotton leaves under salt stress for 0 h (T0), 3 h (T3) and 12 h (T12), we identified 8 436, 11 628 and 6 311 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in T3 vs. T0, T12 vs. T0 and T12 vs. T3, respectively. A total of 459 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were identified by proteomic analysis, of which 273, 99 and 260 DEPs were identified in T3 vs. T0, T12 vs. T0 and T12 vs. T3, respectively. Metabolic pathways, biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, photosynthesis and plant hormone signal transduction were enriched among the identified DEGs or DEPs. Detail analysis of the DEGs or DEPs revealed that complex signaling pathways, such as abscisic acid (ABA) and jasmonic acid (JA) signaling, calcium signaling, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling cascade, transcription factors, activation of antioxidant and ion transporters, were participated in regulating salt response in cotton.ConclusionsOur research not only contributed to understand the mechanism of cotton response to salt stress, but also identified nine candidate genes, which might be useful for molecular breeding to improve salt-tolerance in cotton.

Highlights

Soil salt stress seriously restricts the yield and quality of cotton worldwide
There were 8 436 (4 123 upregulated, 4 313 down-regulated), 11 628 (4 649 upregulated, 6 979 down-regulated) and 6 311 (2 169 up-regulated, 4 142 down-regulated) differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in T3/T0, T12 vs. T0 (T12/T0) and T12 vs. T3 (T12/T3), respectively (Fig. 1b)
The abundance of photosystem I related proteins psaA (Gh_A01G1364, Gh_A09G0964) and psaB (Gh_A12G1136, Gh_Sca005646G01) decreased after 3 h of salt stress, but increased at 12 h. These results suggested that salt stress can cause the changes in expression level of cotton genes involved in carbohydrate metabolism pathways and photosynthesis pathways, to enhance the tolerance and survival of cotton in salt stress

Summary

Introduction

Soil salt stress seriously restricts the yield and quality of cotton worldwide. Soil salinity caused by high concentration of salt ions in soil, which seriously restricts the agricultural production. The salt tolerance of plants depends on their ability to extract water and nutrients from saline soils and to avoid excessive accumulation of salt ions in plant tissues (Zorb et al 2019). Most of crop plants are salt-sensitive, and the yield of crops will be seriously reduced when they are subjected to moderate salt stress (Park et al 2016; Zorb et al 2019). Analyzing the mechanism of plant response to salt stress and cultivating new salt-tolerant crop varieties are very important to ensure the sustainability of agricultural production and food security

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion