Characterization of two novel drought responsive genes in wheat

• DOI: 10.1007/s13562-019-00514-2
• Publication Date: 2019-06-12T13:24:11Z
• Authors: Iffat Kiani; S. M. Saqlan Naqvi; Tasawar Sultana; Fariha Khan
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; 2. Zero hunger; 03 medical and health sciences; 15. Life on land; 6. Clean water

Drought stress modulates the expression levels of numerous stress responsive genes which are not yet independently characterized in detail. Isolation and molecular characterization of the novel genes is necessary to understand plant stress physiology and to engineer stress resistant crops. In this study, two drought responsive genes, wheat cold-regulated gene 410c (WCOR410C) and Triticum aestivum Ring Finger 1 (TaRF1), previously implicated in protective roles were selected for characterization. Four bread wheat cultivars (CV) were analyzed for their response towards drought. CV such as NARC and Td-1 appeared as more drought tolerant with less drop in relative water content. Moreover, upon exposure to dehydration stress, differential expression was observed for WCOR410C, a dehydrin gene. However, cultivars tolerance emerged as a function of drought intensity. TaRF1, a ubiquitin ligase, showed drought dependent fourth intron retention in the cultivar Td-1 illustrating the effect of drought stress on the spilceosomal machinery. It is suggested that splicing events giving rise to transcriptome/proteome diversity might play dynamic role in plant’s adaptation to drought stress. Additionally, structural models were predicted for dehydrin domain of WCOR410C and RING-finger domain of TaRF1.