Transcriptomic profiling and analysis of differentially expressed genes in asparagus bean (Vigna unguiculata ssp. sesquipedalis) under salt stress

PLoS One. 2019 Jul 12;14(7):e0219799. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0219799. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Asparagus bean (Vigna unguiculata ssp. sesquipedalis) is a warm season legume which is widely distributed over subtropical regions and semiarid areas. It is mainly grown as a significant protein source in developing countries. Salinity, as one of the main abiotic stress factors, constrains the normal growth and yield of asparagus bean. This study used two cultivars (a salt-sensitive genotype and a salt-tolerant genotype) under salt stress vs. control to identify salt-stress-induced genes in asparagus bean using RNA sequencing. A total of 692,086,838 high-quality clean reads, assigned to 121,138 unigenes, were obtained from control and salt-treated libraries. Then, 216 root-derived DEGs (differentially expressed genes) and 127 leaf-derived DEGs were identified under salt stress between the two cultivars. Of these DEGs, thirteen were assigned to six transcription factors (TFs), including AP2/EREBP, CCHC(Zn), C2H2, WRKY, WD40-like and LIM. GO analysis indicated four DEGs might take effects on the "oxidation reduction", "transport" and "signal transduction" process. Moreover, expression of nine randomly-chosen DEGs was verified by quantitative real-time-PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis. Predicted function of the nine tested DEGs was mainly involved in the KEGG pathway of cation transport, response to osmotic stress, and phosphorelay signal transduction system. A salt-stress-related pathway of "SNARE interactions in vesicular transport" was concerned. As byproducts, 15, 321 microsatellite markers were found in all the unigenes, and 17 SNP linked to six salt-stress induced DEGs were revealed. These candidate genes provide novel insights for understanding the salt tolerance mechanism of asparagus bean in the future.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Computational Biology / methods
  • Gene Expression Profiling*
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Plant*
  • Gene Regulatory Networks
  • Genome, Plant
  • Genomics / methods
  • High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing
  • Microsatellite Repeats
  • Molecular Sequence Annotation
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Salt Stress / genetics*
  • Salt Tolerance / genetics*
  • Signal Transduction
  • Transcriptome*
  • Vigna / genetics*
  • Vigna / metabolism

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31501369, 31701100), the China Scholarship Council Fund (201708420039), the Natural Science Foundation of Hubei province (2017CFB442), Major Project of Technological Innovation of Hubei province (2017ABA14), Science and Technology Support Program (Science and Technology Innovation Platform and Platform Construction) Project of Hubei province (2015BCE091), Outstanding Young and Middle-aged Science and Technology Innovation Team Project of Hubei province (T201522).