Waterlogging, high temperature and composite stress responsive transcriptome analysis of wheat

Abstract

[Objective] Under climate change scenarios, high temperature and waterlogging stresses have emerged as critical constraints for wheat production. Elucidating the molecular mechanisms of stresses resistance in wheat, with particular emphasis on identifying key metabolic pathways and regulatory networks underlying these stresses tolerance, will provide theoretical basis for molecular breeding.[Methods] 24 hours' single high temperature(30 ℃), single waterlogging and compound stress treatments were conducted on the wheat variety Emai 007 at the three-leaf one-center stage. Basing on RNA-seq, transcriptome analysis on leaves of Emai 007 under the three treatments was performed, and differentially expressed genes(DEGs) were analyzed by DESeq2, and GO and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis were performed. [Results] Transcriptome profiling identified 30 648 DEGs, including 3 088, 13 291, and 11 269 DEGs responsive to waterlogging, high temperature, and combined stress, respectively. Notably, 902 core DEGs were consistently regulated across all the stress treatments. GO and KEGG enrichment analysis revealed that these core DEGs were predominantly enriched in nicotinamide metabolism and sulfur-containing amino acid(cysteine and methionine) metabolic pathways. [Conclusion] It was demonstrated that the combined stress synergistically exacerbates oxidative damage through coordinated suppression of nicotinamide and sulfur metabolic pathways, leading to disrupted iron homeostasis and compromised antioxidant capacity. The identification of these conserved stress-responsive pathways provides novel insights into adaptation mechanisms of wheat to concurrent abiotic stresses. Furthermore, this study offers valuable theoretical foundations for developing climate-resilient wheat varieties through molecular breeding approaches.

Keywords

wheat / high temperature / waterlogging / stress / transcriptome / influence factors