Transcriptomic profiling of Paulownia elongata in response to heat stress

Abstract

Rising global temperatures have caused a substantial loss in crop productivity throughout the world. Understanding the fundamental mechanisms underlying tolerance to heat stress in plants has become increasingly relevant, particularly as global warming continues to rise. The goal of our study was to identify and analyze heat stress-induced transcriptomic changes in Paulownia elongata plants. Paulownia elongata are fast growing trees known for their ability to grow in a wide range of temperatures. However, the genes responsible for its thermotolerance have not yet been identified and studied in detail. In our study, we used RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) to analyze changes in gene expression at the transcriptomic level after inducing heat stress and identified 4,435 genes as differentially expressed. Most of the genes found to be upregulated play a critical role in protein binding, unfolding, retention, and transport, suggesting that heat tolerance in plants can be achieved by protecting native proteins. The genes and pathways identified in this study can serve as valuable targets in heat tolerance studies and development of heat tolerant plants. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first in-depth report of heat-induced transcriptome analysis in P. elongata.