Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is an important grain crop mainly grown in arid and semi-arid regions of the world. Drought is the major factor limiting chickpea growth and productivity. Transcription factors (TFs) genes have been reported as key regulators of drought tolerance in plants. In this study, we determined the relative gene expression of transcription factors of WRKY, DREB2A, and CarNAC3 in three weeks seedlings of tolerant (MCC537) and susceptible (MCC674) genotypes under progressive water deficit through semi-quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR (SqRT-PCR) method. Furthermore, results of SqRT-PCR were more confirmed by quantitative PCR (qPCR). Relative gene expression analysis of the selected genes using qPCR revealed different dehydration-responsive expression patterns. The expression of WRKY gene was significantly induced in both tolerant and sensitive genotypes under severe drought stress (at the last time point). Also, in tolerant genotype, DREB2A gene was approximately expressed three, five and fourfold higher than control plants at three times points, respectively. Moreover, the expression level of CarNAC3 gene in this genotype increased four and twofold higher compared to the relative control at 2 and 4 days after stress, respectively. However, the expression of these genes in the susceptible genotype was constant or decreased relative to the control. Furthermore, the CarNAC3 and DREB2A genes showed higher and more effective expression than the WRKY gene. Overall, the results demonstrated that these TFs may play an important role to improve drought tolerance and have a potential to facilitate molecular breeding and development of drought-tolerant chickpea varieties.

中文翻译：

---

鹰嘴豆干旱响应转录因子的差异基因表达模式：表达分析

鹰嘴豆（Cicer arietinum L.）是一种重要的粮食作物，主要生长在世界干旱和半干旱地区。干旱是限制鹰嘴豆生长和生产力的主要因素。据报道，转录因子 (TF) 基因是植物耐旱性的关键调节因子。在这项研究中，我们通过半定量逆转录酶聚合酶链反应 (SqRT-PCR) 测定了在渐进性缺水条件下，三周耐受性 (MCC537) 和易感性 (MCC674) 基因型幼苗中 WRKY、DREB2A 和 CarNAC3 转录因子的相对基因表达） 方法。此外，定量 PCR (qPCR) 进一步证实了 SqRT-PCR 的结果。使用 qPCR 对所选基因的相对基因表达分析揭示了不同的脱水反应表达模式。WRKY 基因在严重干旱胁迫下（最后一个时间点）在耐受和敏感基因型中的表达均被显着诱导。此外，在耐受基因型中，DREB2A 基因在三个时间点分别比对照植物高约三、五和四倍。此外，与应激后 2 天和 4 天的相对对照相比，该基因型中 CarNAC3 基因的表达水平分别增加了四倍和两倍。然而，这些基因在易感基因型中的表达相对于对照是恒定的或降低的。此外，CarNAC3 和 DREB2A 基因比 WRKY 基因表现出更高和更有效的表达。全面的，