title: Genome-wide analysis of drought induced gene expression changes in flax (Linum usitatissimum).
abstract: A robust phenotypic plasticity to ward off adverse environmental conditions determines performance and productivity in crop plants. Flax (linseed), is an important cash crop produced for natural textile fiber (linen) or oilseed with many health promoting products. This crop is prone to drought stress and yield losses in many parts of the world. Despite recent advances in drought research in a number of important crops, related progress in flax is very limited. Since, response of this plant to drought stress has not been addressed at the molecular level; we conducted microarray analysis to capture transcriptome associated with induced drought in flax. This study identified 183 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) associated with diverse cellular, biophysical and metabolic programs in flax. The analysis also revealed especially the altered regulation of cellular and metabolic pathways governing photosynthesis. Additionally, comparative transcriptome analysis identified a plethora of genes that displayed differential regulation both spatially and temporally. These results revealed co-regulated expression of 26 genes in both shoot and root tissues with implications for drought stress response. Furthermore, the data also showed that more genes are upregulated in roots compared to shoots, suggesting that roots may play important and additional roles in response to drought in flax. With prolonged drought treatment, the number of DEGs increased in both tissue types. Differential expression of selected genes was confirmed by qRT-PCR, thus supporting the suggested functional association of these intrinsic genes in maintaining growth and homeostasis in response to imminent drought stress in flax. Together the present study has developed foundational and new transcriptome data sets for drought stress in flax.
authors: National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology; PUSA Campus; New Delhi, India.
authors: Prasanta K
authors: PK
authors: Dash
authors: National Research Council of Canada; Saskatoon, SK Canada.
authors: Yongguo
authors: Y
authors: Cao
authors: National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology; PUSA Campus; New Delhi, India.
authors: Abdul K
authors: AK
authors: Jailani
authors: National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology; PUSA Campus; New Delhi, India.
authors: Payal
authors: P
authors: Gupta
authors: National Research Council of Canada; Saskatoon, SK Canada.
authors: Prakash
authors: P
authors: Venglat
authors: National Research Council of Canada; Saskatoon, SK Canada.
authors: Daoquan
authors: D
authors: Xiang
authors: National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology; PUSA Campus; New Delhi, India.
authors: Rhitu
authors: R
authors: Rai
authors: Indian Agricultural Research Institute; PUSA Campus; New Delhi, India.
authors: Rinku
authors: R
authors: Sharma
authors: Indian Agricultural Research Institute; PUSA Campus; New Delhi, India.
authors: Nepolean
authors: N
authors: Thirunavukkarasu
authors: Faculty of Science; Hamdard University; Hamdard Nagar, New Delhi, India.
authors: Malik Z
authors: MZ
authors: Abdin
authors: Indian Agricultural Research Institute; PUSA Campus; New Delhi, India.
authors: Devendra K
authors: DK
authors: Yadava
authors: National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology; PUSA Campus; New Delhi, India.
authors: Nagendra K
authors: NK
authors: Singh
authors: Eastern Cereal and Oilseed Research Centre; Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada; Ottawa, ON Canada.
authors: Jas
authors: J
authors: Singh
authors: National Research Council of Canada; Saskatoon, SK Canada.
authors: Gopalan
authors: G
authors: Selvaraj
authors: Department of Biological Sciences; University of Alberta; Edmonton, AB Canada.
authors: Mike
authors: M
authors: Deyholos
authors: National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology; PUSA Campus; New Delhi, India.
authors: Polumetla Ananda
authors: PA
authors: Kumar
authors: National Research Council of Canada; Saskatoon, SK Canada.
authors: Raju
authors: R
authors: Datla
mesh_terms: D055864:Droughts; D019597:Flax / Q000235:genetics*; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D017343:Genes, Plant; D018745:Genome, Plant; D010641:Phenotype; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000235:genetics*
keywords: abiotic stress; drought; flax/linseed; gene expression profiling; microarray; transcriptomics