A Combination of a Genome-Wide Association Study and a Transcriptome Analysis Reveals circRNAs as New Regulators Involved in the Response to Salt Stress in Maize.
Int J Mol Sci
; 23(17)2022 Aug 28.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-36077153
ABSTRACT
Salinization seriously threatens the normal growth of maize, especially at the seedling stage. Recent studies have demonstrated that circular RNAs (circRNAs) play vital roles in the regulation of plant stress resistance. Here, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) on the survival rate of 300 maize accessions under a salt stress treatment. A total of 5 trait-associated SNPs and 86 candidate genes were obtained by the GWAS. We performed RNA sequencing for 28 transcriptome libraries derived from 2 maize lines with contrasting salt tolerance under normal and salt treatment conditions. A total of 1217 highly expressed circRNAs were identified, of which 371 were responsive to a salt treatment. Using PCR and Sanger sequencing, we verified the reliability of these differentially expressed circRNAs. An integration of the GWAS and RNA-Seq analyses uncovered two differentially expressed hub genes (Zm00001eb013650 and Zm00001eb198930), which were regulated by four circRNAs. Based on these results, we constructed a regulation model of circRNA/miRNA/mRNA that mediated salt stress tolerance in maize. By conducting hub gene-based association analyses, we detected a favorable haplotype in Zm00001eb198930, which was responsible for high salt tolerance. These results help to clarify the regulatory relationship between circRNAs and their target genes as well as to develop salt-tolerant lines for maize breeding.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Zea mays
/
RNA Circular
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Int J Mol Sci
Ano de publicação:
2022
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
China