Main conclusion

Expression profiling of NF-Y transcription factors during dehydration and salt stress in finger millet genotypes contrastingly differing in tolerance levels identifies candidate genes for further characterization and functional studies.

Abstractss

The Nuclear Factor-Y (NF-Y) transcription factors are known for imparting abiotic stress tolerance in different plant species. However, there is no information on the role of this transcription factor family in naturally drought-tolerant crop finger millet (Eleusine coracana L.). Therefore, interpretation of expression profiles against drought and salinity stress may provide valuable insights into specific and/or overlapping expression patterns of Eleusine coracana Nuclear Factor-Y (EcNF-Y) genes. Given this, we identified 59 NF-Y (18 NF-YA, 23 NF-YB, and 18 NF-YC) encoding genes and designated them EcNF-Y genes. Expression profiling of these genes was performed in two finger millet genotypes, PES400 (dehydration and salt stress tolerant) and VR708 (dehydration and salt stress sensitive), subjected to PEG-induced dehydration and salt (NaCl) stresses at different time intervals (0, 6, and 12 h). The qRT-PCR expression analysis reveals that the six EcNF-Y genes namely EcNF-YA1, EcNF-YA5, EcNF-YA16, EcNF-YB6, EcNF-YB10, and EcNF-YC2 might be associated with tolerance to both dehydration and salinity stress in early stress condition (6 h), suggesting the involvement of these genes in multiple stress responses in tolerant genotype. In contrast, the transcript abundance of finger millet EcNF-YA5 genes was also observed in the sensitive genotype VR708 under late stress conditions (12 h) of both dehydration and salinity stress. Therefore, the EcNF-YA5 gene might be important for adaptation to salinity and dehydration stress in sensitive finger millet genotypes. Therefore, this gene could be considered as a susceptibility determinant, which can be edited to impart tolerance. The phylogenetic analyses revealed that finger millet NF-Y genes share strong evolutionary and functional relationship to NF-Ys governing response to abiotic stresses in rice, sorghum, maize, and wheat. This is the first report of expression profiling of EcNF-Ys genes identified from the finger millet genome and reveals potential candidate for enhancing dehydration and salt tolerance.

中文翻译：

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小米脱水和盐胁迫期间核因子-Y (NF-Y) 转录因子的表达谱揭示了多重胁迫耐受的潜在候选基因

主要结论

在脱水和盐胁迫期间，对耐性水平差异明显的指小米基因型中 NF-Y 转录因子的表达谱进行了分析，确定了用于进一步表征和功能研究的候选基因。

摘要

众所周知，核因子-Y (NF-Y) 转录因子可赋予不同植物物种非生物胁迫耐受性。然而，目前还没有关于该转录因子家族在天然耐旱作物指黍（Eleusine coracana L.）中的作用的信息。因此，针对干旱和盐度胁迫的表达谱的解释可能为牛筋草核因子-Y ( EcNF-Y)基因的特定和/或重叠表达模式提供有价值的见解。鉴于此，我们鉴定了 59 个 NF-Y（18 个 NF-YA、23 个 NF-YB 和 18 个 NF-YC）编码基因，并将它们命名为EcNF-Y基因。这些基因的表达谱在两种指小米基因型 PES400（脱水和盐胁迫耐受）和 VR708（脱水和盐胁迫敏感）中进行，在不同时间间隔（0、 6 和 12 小时）。 qRT-PCR表达分析表明，六个EcNF-Y基因，即EcNF-YA1、EcNF-YA5、EcNF-YA16、EcNF-YB6、EcNF-YB10和EcNF-YC2可能与脱水和盐胁迫的耐受性相关在早期应激条件下（6小时），表明这些基因参与了耐受基因型的多种应激反应。相比之下，在脱水和盐度胁迫的后期胁迫条件（12小时）下，敏感基因型VR708中也观察到了指小米EcNF-YA5基因的转录本丰度。因此，EcNF-YA5基因可能对于敏感的小米基因型适应盐度和脱水胁迫很重要。因此，该基因可以被视为易感性决定因素，可以对其进行编辑以赋予耐受性。系统发育分析表明，小米 NF-Y 基因与控制水稻、高粱、玉米和小麦非生物胁迫反应的 NF-Y 具有很强的进化和功能关系。这是从指小米基因组中鉴定出的EcNF-Ys基因表达谱的第一份报告，并揭示了增强脱水和耐盐性的潜在候选基因。