Abstract
BackgroundGiant Juncao is often used as feed for livestock because of its huge biomass. However, drought stress reduces forage production by affecting the normal growth and development of plants. Therefore, investigating the molecular mechanisms of drought tolerance will provide important information for the improvement of drought tolerance in this grass.ResultsA total of 144.96 Gb of clean data was generated and assembled into 144,806 transcripts and 93,907 unigenes. After 7 and 14 days of drought stress, a total of 16,726 and 46,492 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were observed, respectively. Compared with normal irrigation, 16,247, 23,503, and 11,598 DEGs were observed in 1, 5, and 9 days following rehydration, respectively. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analyses revealed abiotic stress-responsive genes and pathways related to catalytic activity, methyltransferase activity, transferase activity, and superoxide metabolic process. We also identified transcription factors belonging to several families, including basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH), WRKY, NAM (no apical meristem), ATAF1/2 and CUC2 (cup-shaped cotyledon) (NAC), fatty acyl-CoA reductase (FAR1), B3, myeloblastosis (MYB)-related, and basic leucine zipper (bZIP) families, which are important drought-rehydration-responsive proteins. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis was also used to analyze the RNA-seq data to predict the interrelationship between genes. Twenty modules were obtained, and four of these modules may be involved in photosynthesis and plant hormone signal transduction that respond to drought and rehydration conditions.ConclusionsOur research is the first to provide a more comprehensive understanding of DEGs involved in drought stress at the transcriptome level in Giant Juncao with different drought and recovery conditions. These results may reveal insights into the molecular mechanisms of drought tolerance in Giant Juncao and provide diverse genetic resources involved in drought tolerance research.
Highlights
IntroductionDrought stress reduces forage production by affecting the normal growth and development of plants
Giant Juncao is often used as feed for livestock because of its huge biomass
As only a few studies have identified genes that respond to drought stress in Pennisetum spp., our study provides an important transcriptomic database for further targeted gene modifications in grasses
Summary
Drought stress reduces forage production by affecting the normal growth and development of plants. Drought stress is one of the most threatening environmental constraints that adversely affect plant growth and yield [1]. Drought might cause metabolic imbalance in plant cells and influence the optical energy absorption (2021) 21:2 rehydration is important for the successful adaptation of plants to arid environments. Rehydration helps plants recover their physiological functions, and it can offset plant damage from drought stress to a certain extent [7]. The compensation of rehydration to plant growth after drought stress is often limited. The recovery degree of plant growth might be related to the degree and duration of drought stress before rehydration and drought resistance of plants [8]
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