Transcriptome Analysis of Salt Stress in Hibiscus hamabo Sieb. et Zucc Based on Pacbio Full-Length Transcriptome Sequencing.

Longjie Ni,Yunlong Yin,Chunsun Gu,Zhiquan Wang,Xiangdong Liu,Jianfeng Hua,Huogen Li,Shuting Wu

doi:10.3390/ijms23010138

Abstract

Hibiscus hamabo Sieb. et Zucc is an important semi-mangrove plant with great morphological features and strong salt resistance. In this study, by combining single molecule real time and next-generation sequencing technologies, we explored the transcriptomic changes in the roots of salt stressed H. hamabo. A total of 94,562 unigenes were obtained by clustering the same isoforms using the PacBio RSII platform, and 2269 differentially expressed genes were obtained under salt stress using the Illumina platform. There were 519 differentially expressed genes co-expressed at each treatment time point under salt stress, and these genes were found to be enriched in ion signal transduction and plant hormone signal transduction. We used Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. transformation to confirm the function of the HhWRKY79 gene and discovered that overexpression enhanced salt tolerance. The full-length transcripts generated in this study provide a full characterization of the transcriptome of H. hamabo and may be useful in mining new salt stress-related genes specific to this species, while facilitating the understanding of the salt tolerance mechanisms.

Highlights

Salt stress is a significant environmental stressor and one of the primary factors affecting crop development and output [1]
Based on benchmarking universal single-copy ortholog (BUSCO) analysis, approximately 324 (75.52%) of the 429 expected embryophyte genes were identified as complete (Supplementary Materials Table S1)
The N1 genes were mainly enriched in terms such as serine hydrolase activity and disaccharide metabolic process, indicating that these types of genes are mainly involved in metabolic changes following the stress response; the N2 genes were mainly enriched in lipid transporter activity and transferase activity, indicating that these types of genes are mainly involved in transmembrane transport and other pathways; the N3 genes were mainly enriched in ADP binding and polysaccharide binding, indicating that these genes are mainly involved in energy binding; and the N4 genes were mainly enriched in oxidoreductase activity and single-organism metabolic process, indicating that these genes are mainly involved in redox

Summary

Introduction

Salt stress is a significant environmental stressor and one of the primary factors affecting crop development and output [1]. This problem has been aggravated by the recent increase in human activity and the occurrence of regular harsh weather [2]. Salinity stress causes osmotic stress, ion toxicity, and oxidative stress, leading to cell dehydration, biochemical process disruption, growth limitation and even the death of the whole plant [5]. The complex responses of plants to salinity stress include signal transduction, ion homeostasis, reactive oxygen species (ROS)-scavenging, and any other growth regulatory pathways [6]. Specific transcription factors and related genes involved in the salinity stress response are activated in the process [7]. The adaptive salt tolerance mechanisms may differ among different plant species

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Conclusion