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Comparative analysis of developing grain transcriptome reveals candidate genes and pathways improving GPC in wheat lines derived from wild emmer

  • Plant Genetics • Original Paper
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Abstract

The grain protein content (GPC) in modern wheat is inherently low. Wild emmer wheat (Triticum turgidum ssp. dicoccoides, 2n = 4x = 28, AABB) gene pool harbors wide genotypic variations in GPC. However, the characterization of candidate genes associated with high GPC is a challenge due to the complex characteristic of this trait. In the current study, we performed RNA-seq analysis on developing grains of wild emmer genotype D1, common wheat CN16, and their hexaploid wide hybrid BAd107-4 with contrasting GPC. We have found a total of 39,795 expressed genes on chromosomes A and B, of which 24,152 were shared between D1, CN16, and BAd107-4. From 1744 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), 1203 were downregulated and 541 were upregulated in the high GPC (D1+BAd107-4) compared with low GPC (CN16) groups. The majority of DEGs were associated with protein processing in endoplasmic reticulum, starch and sucrose metabolism, galactose metabolism, and protein export pathways. Expression levels of nine randomly selected genes were verified by qRT-PCR, which was consistent with the transcriptome data. The present database will help us to understand the potential regulation networks underlying wheat grain protein accumulation and provide the foundation for simultaneous improvement of grain protein content and yield in wheat breeding programs.

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Funding

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31571668) and the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2017YFD0100900).

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Author notes

  1. Fangyi Gong and Lin Huang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Crop Gene Exploration and Utilization in Southwest China, Triticeae Research Institute, Sichuan Agricultural University, Wenjiang, Chengdu, 611130, China

    Fangyi Gong, Lin Huang, Tiangang Qi, Guan Tang, Jia Liu, Lan Xiang, Jingshu He, Youliang Zheng, Dengcai Liu & Bihua Wu

  2. Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Resources and Improvement, Ministry of Education, Sichuan Agricultural University, Wenjiang, Chengdu, 611130, China

    Youliang Zheng, Dengcai Liu & Bihua Wu

Authors
  1. Fangyi Gong
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  2. Lin Huang
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  3. Tiangang Qi
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  4. Guan Tang
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  5. Jia Liu
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  6. Lan Xiang
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  7. Jingshu He
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  8. Youliang Zheng
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  9. Dengcai Liu
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  10. Bihua Wu
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Contributions

Fangyi Gong: formal analysis, writing—original draft preparation. Lin Huang: writing, editing. Tiangang Qi: investigation. Guan Tang: investigation. Jia Liu: investigation. Lan Xiang: investigation. Jingshu He: investigation. Youliang Zheng: supervision. Dengcai Liu: supervision. Bihua Wu: conceptualization, project administration, funding acquisition.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Lin Huang or Bihua Wu.

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Communicated by: Izabela Pawłowicz

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Gong, F., Huang, L., Qi, T. et al. Comparative analysis of developing grain transcriptome reveals candidate genes and pathways improving GPC in wheat lines derived from wild emmer. J Appl Genetics 62, 17–25 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13353-020-00588-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13353-020-00588-y

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