Role of MicroRNAs in Biotic and Abiotic Stress Responses in Crop Plants

2014 ◽  
Vol 174 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajesh Kumar
Agronomy ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Dresselhaus ◽  
Ralph Hückelhoven

Agricultural productivity depends on increasingly extreme weather phenomena, and the use of germplasm that has to be continuously improved by plant breeders to become tolerant to various biotic and abiotic stresses. Molecular plant biologists try to understand the mechanisms associated with stress responses and provide knowledge that could be used in breeding programs. To provide a partial overview about our current understanding about molecular and physiological stress responses, and how this knowledge can be used in agriculture, we have edited a special issue on “Biotic and Abiotic Stress Responses in Crop Plants”. Contributions are from different fields including heat stress responses, stress responses during drought and salinity, as well as during flooding, and resistance and susceptibility to pathogenetic stresses and about the role of plant functional metabolites in biotic stress responses. Future research demand in particular areas of crop stress physiology is discussed, as well as the importance of translational research and investigations directly in elite crop plants and in the genetic resources available for breeding.


PeerJ ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. e7383
Author(s):  
Phearom Bot ◽  
Bong-Gyu Mun ◽  
Qari Muhammad Imran ◽  
Adil Hussain ◽  
Sang-Uk Lee ◽  
...  

Plant defense against pathogens and abiotic stresses is regulated differentially by communicating signal transduction pathways in which nitric oxide (NO) plays a key role. Here, we show the biological role of Arabidopsis thaliana wall-associated kinase (AtWAK) Like10 (AtWAKL10) that exhibits greater than a 100-fold change in transcript accumulation in response to the NO donor S-nitroso-L-cysteine (CysNO), identified from high throughput RNA-seq based transcriptome analysis. Loss of AtWAKL10 function showed a similar phenotype to wild type (WT) with, however, less branching. The growth of atwakl10 on media supplemented with oxidative or nitrosative stress resulted in differential results with improved growth following treatment with CysNO but reduced growth in response to S-nitrosoglutatione (GSNO) and methyl-viologen. Further, atwakl10 plants exhibited increased susceptibility to virulent Pseudomonas syringae pv tomato (Pst) DC3000 with a significant increase in pathogen growth and decrease in PR1 transcript accumulation compared to WT overtime. Similar results were found in response to Pst DC3000 avrB, resulting in increased cell death as shown by increased electrolyte leakage in atwakl10. Furthermore, atwakl10 also showed increased reactive oxygen species accumulation following Pst DC3000 avrB inoculation. Promoter analysis of AtWAKL10 showed transcription factor (TF) binding sites for biotic and abiotic stress-related TFs. Further investigation into the role of AtWAKL10 in abiotic stresses showed that following two weeks water-withholding drought condition most of the atwakl10 plants got wilted; however, the majority (60%) of these plants recovered following re-watering. In contrast, in response to salinity stress, atwakl10 showed reduced germination under 150 mM salt stress compared to WT, suggesting that NO-induced AtWAKL10 differentially regulates different abiotic stresses. Taken together, this study further elucidates the importance of NO-induced changes in gene expression and their role in plant biotic and abiotic stress tolerance.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 2906
Author(s):  
Urszula Talar ◽  
Agnieszka Kiełbowicz-Matuk

B-box proteins represent diverse zinc finger transcription factors and regulators forming large families in various plants. A unique domain structure defines them—besides the highly conserved B-box domains, some B-box (BBX) proteins also possess CCT domain and VP motif. Based on the presence of these specific domains, they are mostly classified into five structural groups. The particular members widely differ in structure and fulfill distinct functions in regulating plant growth and development, including seedling photomorphogenesis, the anthocyanins biosynthesis, photoperiodic regulation of flowering, and hormonal pathways. Several BBX proteins are additionally involved in biotic and abiotic stress response. Overexpression of some BBX genes stimulates various stress-related genes and enhanced tolerance to different stresses. Moreover, there is evidence of interplay between B-box and the circadian clock mechanism. This review highlights the role of BBX proteins as a part of a broad regulatory network in crop plants, considering their participation in development, physiology, defense, and environmental constraints. A description is also provided of how various BBX regulators involved in stress tolerance were applied in genetic engineering to obtain stress tolerance in transgenic crops.


Author(s):  
Mohadeseh Hassanisaadi ◽  
Mahmood Barani ◽  
Abbas Rahdar ◽  
Moslem Heidary ◽  
Anna Thysiadou ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Bo Shu ◽  
YaChao Xie ◽  
Fei Zhang ◽  
Dejian Zhang ◽  
Chunyan Liu ◽  
...  

Calmodulin-like (CML) proteins represent a diverse family of protein in plants, and play significant roles in biotic and abiotic stress responses. However, the involvement of citrus CMLs in plant responses to drought stress (abiotic stress) and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) colonization remain relatively unknown. We characterized the citrus CML genes by analyzing the EF-hand domains and a genome-wide search, and identified a total of 38 such genes, distributed across at least nine chromosomes. Six tandem duplication clusters were observed in the CsCMLs, and 12 CsCMLs exhibited syntenic relationships with Arabidopsis thaliana CMLs. Gene expression analysis showed that 29 CsCMLs were expressed in the roots, and exhibited differential expression patterns. The regulation of CsCMLs expression was not consistent with the cis-elements identified in their promoters. CsCML2, 3, and 5 were upregulated in response to drought stress, and AMF colonization repressed the expression of CsCML7, 9, 12, 13,20, 27, 28, and 35,and induced that of CsCML1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 18, 25, 30, 33, and 37. Furthermore, AMF colonization and drought stress exerted a synergistic effect, evident from the enhanced repression of CsCML7, 9, 12, 13, 27, 28, and 35 and enhanced expression of CsCML2, 3, and 5 under AMF colonization and drought stress. The present study provides valuable insights into the CsCML gene family and its responses to AMF colonization and drought stress.


Genes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xue Yang ◽  
Jinchi Wei ◽  
Zhihai Wu ◽  
Jie Gao

Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs)—an especially plant-specific tau class of GSTs—are key enzymes involved in biotic and abiotic stress responses. To improve the stress resistance of crops via the genetic modification of GSTs, we predicted the amino acids present in the GSH binding site (G-site) and hydrophobic substrate-binding site (H-site) of OsGSTU17, a tau class GST in rice. We then examined the enzyme activity, substrate specificity, enzyme kinetics and thermodynamic stability of the mutant enzymes. Our results showed that the hydrogen bonds between Lys42, Val56, Glu68, and Ser69 of the G-site and glutathione were essential for enzyme activity and thermal stability. The hydrophobic side chains of amino acids of the H-site contributed to enzyme activity toward 4-nitrobenzyl chloride but had an inhibitory effect on enzyme activity toward 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene and cumene hydroperoxide. Different amino acids of the H-site had different effects on enzyme activity toward a different substrate, 7-chloro-4-nitrobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazole. Moreover, Leu112 and Phe162 were found to inhibit the catalytic efficiency of OsGSTU17 to 7-chloro-4-nitrobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazole, while Pro16, Leu112, and Trp165 contributed to structural stability. The results of this research enhance the understanding of the relationship between the structure and function of tau class GSTs to improve the abiotic stress resistance of crops.


Plant Gene ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 180-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sagar Banerjee ◽  
Anil Sirohi ◽  
Abid A. Ansari ◽  
Sarvajeet Singh Gill

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