ABSTRACT: Purpose: Increasing biomass yield and quality of feedstock have been a recent interest in switchgrass research. Despite the economic importance of switchgrass, increasing temperature and water deficit are limiting factors to the cultivation of bioenergy crops in the semi-arid areas. The effect of individual drought or heat stress has been studied separately in switchgrass. However, there is relatively limited or no report on the molecular basis of combined abiotic stress tolerance in switchgrass particularly the combination of drought and heat stress. We used RNA-Seq approaches to elucidate the transcriptome changes of switchgrass in response to drought and high temperatures simultaneously. Method: We conducted solely drought treatment in switchgrass plant Alamo AP13 by withholding water after 45 days of growing. For the combination of drought and heat effect, heat treatment (35 °C/25 °C day/night) was imposed after 72 h of the initiation of drought. Samples were collected at 0 h, 72 h, 96 h, 120 h, 144 h, and 168 h after treatment imposition, total RNA was extracted, and RNA-Seq conducted. Results:Out of total 32,190 genes, we identified 3,912, as DT responsive genes, 2,339 and 4,635 as , heat (HT) and drought and heat (DTHT) responsive genes, respectively. There were 209, 106, and 220 transcription factors (TFs) differentially expressed under DT, HT and DTHT respectively Conclusion: Through RNA-Seq analysis, we have identified unique and overlapping genes in response to DT and combined DTHT stress in switchgrass. The combination of DT and HT stress may affect the photosynthetic machinery and phenylpropanoid pathway of switchgrass which negatively impacts lignin synthesis and biomass production of switchgrass. The biological function of genes identified particularly in response to DTHT stress could further be confirmed by techniques such as single point mutation or RNAi.
