Project description:Purpose: To identify abiotic stress responsive and tissue specific miRNAs at genome wide level in wheat (Triticum aestivum) Results: Small RNA libraries were constructed from four tissues (root, shoot, mature leaf and spikelets) and three stress treatments of wheat seedlings (control, high temperature, salinity and water-deficit). A total of 59.5 million reads were obtained by high throughput sequencing of eight wheat libraries, of which 32.5 million reads were found to be unique. Using UEA sRNA workbench we identified 47 conserved miRNAs belonging to 20 families, 1030 candidate novel and 51 true novel miRNAs. Several of these miRNAs displayed tissue specific expression whereas few were found to be responsive to abiotic stress treatments. Target genes were predicted for miRNAs identified in this study and their grouping into functional categories revealed that the putative targets were involved in diverse biological processes. RLM-RACE of predicted targets of three conserved miRNAs (miR156, miR160 and miR164) confirmed their mRNA cleavage, thus indicating their regulation at post-transcriptional level by corresponding miRNAs. Expression profiling of confirmed target genes of these miRNAs was also performed. Conclusions: This is the first comprehensive study on profiling of miRNAs in a variety of tissues and in response to several abiotic stresses in wheat. Our findings provide valuable resource for better understanding on the role of miRNAs in stress tolerance as well as plant development. Additionally, this information could be utilized for designing wheat plants for enhanced abiotic stress tolerance and higher productivity.
Project description:Purpose: Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has revolutionized systems-based analysis of cellular pathways. The goals of this study are to compare NGS-derived Triticum aestivum transcriptome (RNA-seq) profiling methods and to evaluate genotypes associated with resistance against the Wheat dwarf virus. Methods: Triticum aestivum mRNA profiles of genotypes associated with resistance against the Wheat dwarf virus were generated by deep sequencing, in four replicates, using Illumina. The sequence reads that passed quality filters were analyzed at the transcript isoform level with two methods: Burrows–Wheeler Aligner (BWA) followed by ANOVA (ANOVA) and TopHat followed by Cufflinks. qRT–PCR validation was performed using TaqMan and SYBR Green assays. Conclusions: Our study represents the first detailed analysis of Triticum aestivum transcriptomes, with biologic replicates, generated by RNA-seq technology. The optimized data analysis workflows reported here should provide a framework for comparative investigations of expression profiles. Our results show that NGS offers a comprehensive and more accurate quantitative and qualitative evaluation of mRNA and miRNA content within a cell or tissue. We conclude that RNA-seq based transcriptome characterization would expedite genetic network analyses and permit the dissection of complex biologic functions.
Project description:To better understand the regulatory mechanisms of water stress response in wheat, the transcript profiles in roots of two wheat genotypes, namely, drought tolerant 'Luohan No.2' (LH) and drought susceptible 'Chinese Spring' (CS) under water-stress were comparatively analyzed by using the Affymetrix wheat GeneChip®. A total of 3831 transcripts displayed 2-fold or more expression changes, 1593 transcripts were induced compared with 2238 transcripts were repressed, in LH under water-stress; Relatively fewer transcripts were drought responsive in CS, 1404 transcripts were induced and 1493 were repressed. Comparatively, 569 transcripts were commonly induced and 424 transcripts commonly repressed in LH and CS under water-stress. 689 transcripts (757 probe sets) identified from LH and 537 transcripts (575 probe sets) from CS were annotated and classified into 10 functional categories, and 74 transcripts derived from 80 probe sets displayed the change ratios no less than 16 in LH or CS. Several kinds of candidate genes were differentially expressed between the LH and CS, which could be responsible for the difference in drought tolerance of the two genotypes.