Genome wide identification and characterization of light-harvesting Chloro a/b binding (LHC) genes reveals their potential role in enhancing drought tolerance in Gossypium hirsutum
Open Access
- 3 June 2021
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Journal of Cotton Research
- Vol. 4 (1), 1-13
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s42397-021-00090-8
Abstract
Background: Cotton is an important commercial crop for being a valuable source of natural fiber. Its production has undergone a sharp decline because of abiotic stresses, etc. Drought is one of the major abiotic stress causing significant yield losses in cotton. However, plants have evolved self-defense mechanisms to cope abiotic factors like drought, salt, cold, etc. The evolution of stress responsive transcription factors such as the trihelix, a nodule-inception-like protein (NLP), and the late embryogenesis abundant proteins have shown positive response in the resistance improvement to several abiotic stresses. Results: Genome wide identification and characterization of the effects of Light-Harvesting Chloro a/b binding (LHC) genes were carried out in cotton under drought stress conditions. A hundred and nine proteins encoded by the LHC genes were found in the cotton genome, with 55, 27, and 27 genes found to be distributed in Gossypium hirsutum, G. arboreum, and G. raimondii, respectively. The proteins encoded by the genes were unevenly distributed on various chromosomes. The Ka/Ks (Non-synonymous substitution rate/Synonymous substitution rate) values were less than one, an indication of negative selection of the gene family. Differential expressions of genes showed that majority of the genes are being highly upregulated in the roots as compared with leaves and stem tissues. Most genes were found to be highly expressed in MR-85, a relative drought tolerant germplasm. Conclusion: The results provide proofs of the possible role of the LHC genes in improving drought stress tolerance, and can be explored by cotton breeders in releasing a more drought tolerant cotton varieties.Keywords
Funding Information
- The National Natural Science Foundation of China (31671745, 31671745)
- Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Program of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
This publication has 45 references indexed in Scilit:
- Abiotic Stress Tolerance in CottonPublished by IntechOpen ,2020
- The Pfam protein families database in 2019Nucleic Acids Research, 2018
- Water-stress induced downsizing of light-harvesting antenna complex protects developing rice seedlings from photo-oxidative damageScientific Reports, 2018
- TBtools - an integrative toolkit developed for interactive analyses of big biological dataPublished by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory ,2018
- Regulation of Photosynthesis during Abiotic Stress-Induced PhotoinhibitionMolecular Plant, 2015
- Photosynthetic gene expression in higher plantsPhotosynthesis Research, 2013
- Photosynthetic control of electron transport and the regulation of gene expressionJournal of Experimental Botany, 2012
- What Next for Agriculture After Durban?Science, 2012
- The Dynamics of PhotosynthesisAnnual Review of Genetics, 2008
- Gene Ontology: tool for the unification of biologyNature Genetics, 2000