Transcriptomic profiling of wheat stem during meiosis in response to freezing stress

Danyu Yao; Juan Wang; Wentao Peng; Bowen Zhang; Xiaolan Wen; Xiaoneng Wan; Xiuyuan Wang; Xinchun Li; Jian Ma; Xiaofen Liu; Yinglun Fan; Guozhong Sun

doi:10.3389/fpls.2022.1099677

Transcriptomic profiling of wheat stem during meiosis in response to freezing stress

Front Plant Sci. 2023 Jan 12:13:1099677. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.1099677. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Danyu Yao¹, Juan Wang¹, Wentao Peng^{1

2}, Bowen Zhang^{1

3}, Xiaolan Wen^{1

4}, Xiaoneng Wan¹, Xiuyuan Wang^{1

2}, Xinchun Li¹, Jian Ma³, Xiaofen Liu⁴, Yinglun Fan², Guozhong Sun¹

Affiliations

¹ National Engineering Laboratory of Crop Molecular Breeding, Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.
² College of Agricultural Science and Engineering, Liaocheng University, Liaocheng, Shandong, China.
³ College of Agronomy, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, Jilin, China.
⁴ College of Landscape and Ecological Engineering, Hebei University of Engineering, Handan, Hebei, China.

Abstract

Low temperature injury in spring has seriously destabilized the production and grain quality of common wheat. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying spring frost tolerance remain elusive. In this study, we investigated the response of a frost-tolerant wheat variety Zhongmai8444 to freezing stress at the meiotic stage. Transcriptome profiles over a time course were subsequently generated by high-throughput sequencing. Our results revealed that the prolonged freezing temperature led to the significant reductions in plant height and seed setting rate. Cell wall thickening in the vascular tissue was also observed in the stems. RNA-seq analyses demonstrated the identification of 1010 up-regulated and 230 down-regulated genes shared by all time points of freezing treatment. Enrichment analysis revealed that gene activity related to hormone signal transduction and cell wall biosynthesis was significantly modulated under freezing. In addition, among the identified differentially expressed genes, 111 transcription factors belonging to multiple gene families exhibited dynamic expression pattern. This study provided valuable gene resources beneficial for the breeding of wheat varieties with improved spring frost tolerance.

Keywords: Triticum aestivum; cell wall; hormone signal transduction; spring frost injury; transcription factor; transcriptome.

Grants and funding

This project was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32201806), the China Agriculture Research System of MOF and MARA (CARS-03), and the National Key R & D Program of China (2021YFD12006).