Molecular cloning and characterization of genes encoding Pennisetum glaucum ascorbate peroxidase and heat-shock factor: interlinking oxidative and heat-stress responses

Delineation of genes for a major QTL governing heat stress tolerance in chickpea

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) is a cool season grain legume experiencing severe yield loss during heat stress due to the intensifying climate changes and its associated gradual increase of mean temperature. Hence, understanding the genetic architecture regulating heat stress tolerance has emerged as an important trait to be addressed for enhancing yield and productivity of chickpea under heat stress. The present study is intended to identify the major genomic region(s) governing heat stress tolerance in chickpea. For this, an integrated genomics-assisted breeding strategy involving NGS-based high-resolution QTL-seq assay, QTL region-specific association analysis and molecular haplotyping was deployed in a population of 206 mapping individuals and a diversity panel of 217 germplasm accessions of chickpea. This combinatorial strategy delineated a major 156.8 kb QTL genomic region, which was subsequently narrowed-down to a functional candidate gene CaHSFA5 and its natural alleles associated strongly with heat stress tolerance in chickpea. Superior natural alleles and haplotypes delineated from the CaHSFA5 gene have functional significance in regulating heat stress tolerance in chickpea. Histochemical staining, interaction studies along with differential expression profiling of CaHSFA5 and ROS scavenging genes suggest a cross talk between CaHSFA5 with ROS homeostasis pertaining to heat stress tolerance in chickpea. Heterologous gene expression followed by heat stress screening further validated the functional significance of CaHSFA5 for heat stress tolerance. The salient outcomes obtained here can have potential to accelerate multiple translational genomic analysis including marker-assisted breeding and gene editing in order to develop high-yielding heat stress tolerant chickpea varieties.

Pyramiding of transcription factor, PgHSF4, and stress-responsive genes of p68, Pg47, and PsAKR1 impart multiple abiotic stress tolerance in rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, and heat stress significantly affect rice crop growth and production. Under uncertain climatic conditions, the concurrent multiple abiotic stresses at different stages of rice production became a major challenge for agriculture. Hence, improving rice's multiple abiotic stress tolerance is essential to overcome unprecedented challenges under adverse environmental conditions. A significant challenge for rice breeding programs in improving abiotic stress tolerance involves multiple traits and their complexity. Multiple traits must be targeted to improve multiple stress tolerance in rice and uncover the mechanisms. With this hypothesis, in the present study gene stacking approach is used to integrate multiple traits involved in stress tolerance. The multigene transgenics co-expressing Pennisetum glaucum 47 (Pg47), Pea 68 (p68), Pennisetum glaucum Heat Shock Factor 4(PgHSF4), and Pseudomonas Aldo Keto Reductase 1 (PsAKR1) genes in the rice genotype (AC39020) were developed using the in-planta transformation method. The promising transgenic lines maintained higher yields under semi-irrigated aerobic cultivation (moisture stress). These 15 promising transgenic rice seedlings showed improved shoot and root growth traits under salinity, accelerating aging, temperature, and oxidative stress. They showed better physiological characteristics, such as chlorophyll content, membrane stability, and lower accumulation of reactive oxygen species, under multiple abiotic stresses than wild-type. Enhanced expression of transgenes and other stress-responsive downstream genes such as HSP70, SOD, APX, SOS, PP2C, and P5CS in transgenic lines suggest the possible molecular mechanism for imparting the abiotic stress tolerance. This study proved that multiple genes stacking as a novel strategy induce several mechanisms and responsible traits to overcome multiple abiotic stresses. This multigene combination can potentially improve tolerance to multiple abiotic stress conditions and pave the way for developing climate-resilient crops.

Redox-mediated responses to high temperature in plants

As sessile organisms, plants are particularly affected by climate change and will face more frequent and extreme temperature variations in the future. Plants have developed a diverse range of mechanisms allowing them to perceive and respond to these environmental constraints, which requires sophisticated signalling mechanisms. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are generated in plants exposed to various stress conditions including high temperatures and are presumed to be involved in stress response reactions. The diversity of ROS-generating pathways and the ability of ROS to propagate from cell to cell and to diffuse through cellular compartments and even across membranes between subcellular compartments put them at the centre of signalling pathways. In addition, their capacity to modify the cellular redox status and to modulate functions of target proteins, notably through cysteine oxidation, show their involvement in major stress response transduction pathways. ROS scavenging and thiol reductase systems also participate in the transmission of oxidation-dependent stress signals. In this review, we summarize current knowledge on the functions of ROS and oxidoreductase systems in integrating high temperature signals, towards the activation of stress responses and developmental acclimation mechanisms.

Redox Signaling in Plant Heat Stress Response

The increase in environmental temperature due to global warming is a critical threat to plant growth and productivity. Heat stress can cause impairment in several biochemical and physiological processes. Plants sense and respond to this adverse environmental condition by activating a plethora of defense systems. Among them, the heat stress response (HSR) involves an intricate network of heat shock factors (HSFs) and heat shock proteins (HSPs). However, a growing amount of evidence suggests that reactive oxygen species (ROS), besides potentially being responsible for cellular oxidative damage, can act as signal molecules in HSR, leading to adaptative responses. The role of ROS as toxic or signal molecules depends on the fine balance between their production and scavenging. Enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants represent the first line of defense against oxidative damage and their activity is critical to maintaining an optimal redox environment. However, the HS-dependent ROS burst temporarily oxidizes the cellular environment, triggering redox-dependent signaling cascades. This review provides an overview of the redox-activated mechanisms that participate in the HSR.

Genome-wide miRNAs profiles of pearl millet under contrasting high vapor pressure deficit reveal their functional roles in drought stress adaptations

Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum [L.] R. Br.) is an important crop capable of growing in harsh and marginal environments, with the highest degree of tolerance to drought and heat stresses among cereals. Diverse germplasm of pearl millet shows a significant phenotypic variation in response to abiotic stresses, making it a unique model to study the mechanisms responsible for stress mitigation. The present study focuses on identifying the physiological response of two pearl millet high-resolution cross (HRC) genotypes, ICMR 1122 and ICMR 1152, in response to low and high vapor pressure deficit (VPD). Under high VPD conditions, ICMR 1152 exhibited a lower transpiration rate (Tr), higher transpiration efficiency, and lower root sap exudation than ICMR 1122. Further, Pg-miRNAs expressed in the contrasting genotypes under low and high VPD conditions were identified by deep sequencing analysis. A total of 116 known and 61 novel Pg-miRNAs were identified from ICMR 1152, while 26 known and six novel Pg-miRNAs were identified from ICMR 1122 genotypes, respectively. While Pg-miR165, 168, 170, and 319 families exhibited significant differential expression under low and high VPD conditions in both genotypes, ICMR 1152 showed abundant expression of Pg-miR167, Pg-miR172, Pg-miR396 Pg-miR399, Pg-miR862, Pg-miR868, Pg-miR950, Pg-miR5054, and Pg-miR7527 indicating their direct and indirect role in root physiology and abiotic stress responses. Drought responsive Pg-miRNA targets showed upregulation in response to high VPD stress, further narrowing down the miRNAs involved in regulation of drought tolerance in pearl millet.

Novel ASR isolated from drought stress responsive SSH library in pearl millet confers multiple abiotic stress tolerance in PgASR3 transgenic Arabidopsis

A genomic resource of drought stress responsive genes/ESTs was generated using Suppression Subtractive Hybridization (SSH) approach in a drought stress tolerant Pennisetum glaucum genotype 841B. Fifty five days old plants were subjected to drought stress after withholding water for different time intervals (10 days, 15 days, 20 days and 25 days). A forward subtractive cDNA library was prepared from isolated RNA of leaf tissue. Differential gene expression under drought stress was validated for selected nine contigs by RT-qPCR. A transcript homologous to Setaria italica ASR3 upregulated under drought stress was isolated from genotype 841B and characterized. Heterologous expression of PgASR3 was validated in Arabidopsis and confirmed under multiple abiotic stress conditions. A total of four independent transgenic lines overexpressing gene PgASR3 were analyzed by Southern blot at T₁ stage. For drought stress tolerance, three independent lines (T₂ stage) were analyzed by biochemical and physiological assays at seedling stage. The growth rate (shoot and root length) of transgenic seedlings improved as compared to WT seedling under differenct abiotic stress conditions. The three transgenic lines were also validated for drought stress tolerance and RT-qPCR analysis, at maturity stage. Under drought stress conditions, the mature transgenic lines showed higher levels of RWC, chlorophyll and proline but lower levels of MDA as compared to WT plants. PgASR3 gene isolated and validated in this study can be utilized for developing abiotic stress tolerant crops.

Isolation and functional characterization of three abiotic stress-inducible (Apx, Dhn and Hsc70) promoters from pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.)

Pearl millet is a C4 cereal crop that grows in arid and semi-arid climatic conditions with the remarkable abiotic stress tolerance. It contributed to the understanding of stress tolerance not only at the physiological level but also at the genetic level. In the present study, we functionally cloned and characterized three abiotic stress-inducible promoters namely cytoplasmic Apx1 (Ascorbate peroxidase), Dhn (Dehydrin), and Hsc70 (Heat shock cognate) from pearl millet. Sequence analysis revealed that all three promoters have several cis-acting elements specific for temporal and spatial expression. PgApx pro, PgDhn pro and PgHsc70 pro were fused with uidA gene in Gateway-based plant transformation pMDC164 vector and transferred into tobacco through leaf-disc method. While PgApx pro and PgDhn pro were active in seedling stages, PgHsc70 pro was active in stem and root tissues of the T2 transgenic tobacco plants under control conditions. Higher activity was observed under high temperature and drought, and less in salt and cold stress conditions. Further, all three promoters displayed higher GUS gene expression in the stem, moderate expression in roots, and less expression in leaves under similar conditions. While RT-qPCR data showed that PgApx pro and PgDhn pro were expressed highly in high temperature, salt and drought, PgHsc70 pro was fairly expressed during high temperature stress only. Histochemical and RT-qPCR assays showed that all three promoters are inducible under abiotic stress conditions. Thus, these promoters appear to be immediate candidates for developing abiotic stress tolerant crops as these promoter-driven transgenics confer high degree of tolerance in comparison with the wild-type (WT) plants.

Characterization and Functional Analysis of FaHsfC1b from Festuca arundinacea Conferring Heat Tolerance in Arabidopsis

Heat transcription factors (Hsfs) belong to a large gene family classified into A, B, and C groups, with classes A and B Hsfs being well-characterized and known for their roles in plant tolerance to abiotic stresses. The functions and roles of Class C Hsfs are not well-documented. The objectives of this study were to characterize a class C Hsf gene (FaHsfC1b) cloned from tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea), a perennial grass species, and to determine the physiological functions of FaHsfC1b in regulating heat tolerance by overexpressing FaHsfC1b in Arabidopsis thaliana. Full length cDNA of FaHsfC1b was cloned and the sequence alignment showed that it had high similarity to OsHsfC1b with typical DNA binding domain, hydrophobic oligomerization domain, and a nucleus localization signal. Transient expression with FaHsfC1b-eGFP in protoplasts of Arabidopsis leaves indicated its nucleus localization. qRT-PCR analysis showed that FaHsfC1b responded to heat, osmotic, salt, and cold stress in leaves and roots during 48-h treatment. Physiological analysis showed that FaHsfC1b overexpression enhanced plant survival rate, chlorophyll content, and photochemical efficiency, while it resulted in decreases in electrolyte leakage, H₂O₂ and O²⁻ content under heat stress. qRT-PCR showed that endogenous HsfC1 was induced in transgenic plants and the expression levels of heat protection protein genes, including several HSPs, AtGalSyn1, AtRof1, and AtHSA32, as well as ABA-synthesizing gene (NCED3) were significantly upregulated in transgenic plants overexpressing FaHsfC1b under heat stress. Our results first demonstrate that HsfC1b plays positive roles in plant tolerance to heat stress in association with the induction and upregulation of heat-protective genes. HsfC1b may be used as a candidate gene for genetic modification of cool-season plant species for improving heat tolerance.

Molecular cloning, characterization and expression analysis of a heat shock protein 10 (Hsp10) from Pennisetum glaucum (L.), a C4 cereal plant from the semi-arid tropics

Heat shock proteins (Hsp10) belong to the ubiquitous family of heat-shock molecular chaperones found in the organelles of both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Chaperonins assist the folding of nascent and stress-destabilized proteins. A cDNA clone encoding a 10 kDa Hsp was isolated from pearl millet, Pennisetum glaucum (L.) by screening a heat stress cDNA library. The fulllength PgHsp10 cDNA consisted of 297 bp open reading frame (ORF) encoding a 98 amino acid polypeptide with a predicted molecular mass of 10.61 kDa and an estimated isoelectric point (pI) of 7.95. PgHsp10 shares 70-98 % sequence identity with other plant homologs. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that PgHsp10 is evolutionarily close to the maize Hsp10 homolog. The predicted 3D model confirmed a conserved eight-stranded ß-barrel with active site between the ß-barrel comprising of eight-strands, with conserved domain VLLPEYGG sandwiched between two ß-sheets. The gene consisted of 3 exons and 2 introns, while the position and phasing of these introns were conserved similar to other plant Hsp10 family genes. In silico analysis of the promoter region of PgHsp10 presented several distinct set of cis-elements and transcription factor binding sites. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis showed that PgHsp10 gene was differentially expressed in response to abiotic stresses with the highest level of expression under heat stress conditions. Results of this study provide useful information regarding the role of chaperonins in stress regulation and generated leads for further elucidation of their function in plant stress tolerance.

Simultaneous expression of regulatory genes associated with specific drought-adaptive traits improves drought adaptation in peanut

Adaptation of crops to drought-prone rain-fed conditions can be achieved by improving plant traits such as efficient water mining (by superior root characters) and cellular-level tolerance mechanisms. Pyramiding these drought-adaptive traits by simultaneous expression of genes regulating drought-adaptive mechanisms has phenomenal relevance in improving stress tolerance. In this study, we provide evidence that peanut transgenic plants expressing Alfalfa zinc finger 1 (Alfin1), a root growth-associated transcription factor gene, Pennisetum glaucum heat-shock factor (PgHSF4) and Pea DNA helicase (PDH45) involved in protein turnover and protection showed improved tolerance, higher growth and productivity under drought stress conditions. Stable integration of all the transgenes was noticed in transgenic lines. The transgenic lines showed higher root growth, cooler crop canopy air temperature difference (less CCATD) and higher relative water content (RWC) under drought stress. Low proline levels in transgenic lines substantiate the maintenance of higher water status. The survival and recovery of transgenic lines was significantly higher under gradual moisture stress conditions with higher biomass. Transgenic lines also showed significant tolerance to ethrel-induced senescence and methyl viologen-induced oxidative stress. Several stress-responsive genes such as heat-shock proteins (HSPs), RING box protein-1 (RBX1), Aldose reductase, late embryogenesis abundant-5 (LEA5) and proline-rich protein-2 (PRP2), a gene involved in root growth, showed enhanced expression under stress in transgenic lines. Thus, the simultaneous expression of regulatory genes contributing for drought-adaptive traits can improve crop adaptation and productivity under water-limited conditions.

Multi-Level Interactions Between Heat Shock Factors, Heat Shock Proteins, and the Redox System Regulate Acclimation to Heat

High temperature has become a global concern because it seriously affects the growth and reproduction of plants. Exposure of plant cells to high temperatures result in cellular damage and can even lead to cell death. Part of the damage can be ascribed to the action of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which accumulate during abiotic stresses such as heat stress. ROS are toxic and can modify other biomacromolecules including membrane lipids, DNA, and proteins. In order to protect the cells, ROS scavenging is essential. In contrast with their inherent harms, ROS also function as signaling molecules, inducing stress tolerance mechanisms. This review examines the evidence for crosstalk between the classical heat stress response, which consists of heat shock factors (HSFs) and heat shock proteins (HSPs), with the ROS network at multiple levels in the heat response process. Heat stimulates HSF activity directly, but also indirectly via ROS. HSFs in turn stimulate the expression of HSP chaperones and also affect ROS scavenger gene expression. In the short term, HSFs repress expression of superoxide dismutase scavenger genes via induction of miRNA398, while they also activate scavenger gene expression and stabilize scavenger protein activity via HSP induction. We propose that these contrasting effects allow for the boosting of the heat stress response at the very onset of the stress, while preventing subsequent oxidative damage. The described model on HSFs, HSPs, ROS, and ROS scavenger interactions seems applicable to responses to stresses other than heat and may explain the phenomenon of crossacclimation.

Water extraction under terminal drought explains the genotypic differences in yield, not the anti-oxidant changes in leaves of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum)

Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R.Br.) is a resilient crop suiting the harshest conditions of the semi-arid tropics, in which we assessed possible relationships between crop tolerance, anti-oxidative enzyme activity and plant/soil water status. Biochemical acclimation and cell homeostasis traits have been proposed as critical for the drought tolerance of crops, but their limited practical application in breeding so far suggests that the role of biochemical acclimation for drought tolerance is still unclear. Previous research may have been of limited value because it has not approached biochemical acclimation from the angle of plant water relations. Four pearl millet genotypes, contrasting for terminal drought tolerance, were evaluated (sensitive H77/833-2, tolerant PRLT2/89-33 and two near isogenic lines carrying a terminal drought tolerance quantitative trait locus) under water-stress (WS) and well-watered (WW) conditions in a lysimetric system that simulates field-like conditions. We assessed the genotypic variation and relationship between photosynthetic pigments (chlorophylls a and b and carotenoids), antioxidative isoenzymatic spectrum (superoxide dismutase, ascorbate peroxidase and catalase), physiological traits (soil moisture available, normalised transpiration, stay-green score and water extraction) and biomass and yield. Biochemical traits investigated were tightly related among each other under WS conditions but not under WW conditions. Two major ascorbate peroxidase isoforms (APX6&7), whose variation in both water regimes reflected the presence/absence of the drought tolerance quantitative trait locus, were identified, but these did not relate to yield. Both, yield and biochemical traits under terminal drought stress were closely related to the traits linked to plant/soil water status (soil moisture available, normalised transpiration, stay-green score and water extraction), whereas yield and the biochemical indicators were not correlated, except for one. It is concluded that there is no direct effect of biochemical traits on yield parameters since both are consequences of soil-plant water status and their putative relation appear to be secondary - through plant/soil water status.