Transcriptomic and weighted gene co-expression network analysis of tropic and temperate maize inbred lines recovering from heat stress. (February 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Long, Yun; Qin, Qianqian; Zhang, Jiajun; Zhu, Zhan; Liu, Yin; Gu, Longjiang; Jiang, Haiyang; Si, Weina
• Is Part Of: Plant science. Volume 327(2023)
• Publication Date: 2023-02
• Subjects: HS heat stress -- WGCNA weighted gene co-expression analysis -- HSR heat stress response -- ER endoplasmic reticulum -- ROS reactive oxygen species -- HSP heat shock proteins -- PCA principal component analysis -- DAB 3, 3′-diaminobenzidine -- DEGs differentially expressed genes -- GO gene ontology -- FPKM Fragments Per Kilobase of transcript per Million fragments mapped -- FGS filtered gene set -- GS gene significance -- Hsfs heat shock transcription factors; Transcriptome -- Heat stress -- Maize -- Weighted gene co-expression analysis -- Hub gene; Botany -- Periodicals; Botanique -- Périodiques; 580
• DOI: 10.1016/j.plantsci.2022.111538
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0168-9452

Abstract

Abstract: Heat stress (HS) causes imbalance of cellular homeostasis, growth impairment and extensively yield loss in crop production. In the present study, the tropic maize inbred CIMBL55 showed more thermotolerance than the maize temperate inbred B73, with less leaf damage rate and ROS accumulation. Transcriptome profiling of CIMBL55 and B73 upon (exposing at 45 ℃ for 0, 1, and 6 h) and post (recovering at 28 ℃ for 1 and 6 h) HS were further assessed and a total of 20204 DEGs were identified. Functional annotation revealed that HS activated unfolded protein response in endoplasmic reticulum in both two inbreds. Moreover, in CIMBL55, far more primary and secondary metabolism pathways were transcriptional altered. Afterwards, weighted gene co-expression analysis grouped all expressed genes into eighteen co-expressed modules. Four HS responsive and four CIMBL55 recovery-related modules were subsequently identified. Highly connected genes (hub genes) in these modules were characterized as transcription factors, heat shock proteins, Ca 2+ signaling related genes and various enzymes. Moreover, one hub gene, ZmHsftf13 was verified to positively regulate thermotolerance by heterologous expressing in Arabidopsis and its Mu insertion mutant. The present research provides promising genes related to HS response in maize and is of great significance for breeding. Highlights: Comparative transcriptomic analysis reveals common and specific changes of CIMBL55 and B73 upon and post heat stress. Several heat stress responsive and CIMBL55 recovery-related modules, as well as hub genes in these modules were identified. One of the hub gene, ZmHsft13, was verified to positively regulate plant thermotolerance.