AUTHOR=Su Peisen , Sui Chao , Niu Yufei , Li Jingyu , Wang Shuhan , Sun Fanting , Yan Jun , Guo Shangjing 

TITLE=Comparative transcriptomic analysis and functional characterization reveals that the class III peroxidase gene TaPRX-2A regulates drought stress tolerance in transgenic wheat

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=Volume 14 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2023.1119162

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2023.1119162

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=Drought is a primary abiotic stress that causes crop yield and quality declines in worldwide. Although some genes against drought stress have been identified in previous studies, a deeper understanding of the mechanisms underlying wheat tolerance to drought is required for the control of drought. Here, we evaluated the drought tolerance of various wheat cultivars and measurements of physiological–biochemical parameters. The different tolerance mechanisms of wheat cultivars “ziyou 5” and “liangxing 66” were revealed by transcriptomics analysis and qRT–PCR. The TaPRX-2A function was verified by constructing transgenic lines and measuring physiological–biochemical parameters. Our results showed that resistance wheat cultivars exhibited significantly higher tolerance to drought with stronger antioxidant capacity than the drought sensitive cultivars. Transcriptomics analysis enabled identification of mass differential expression genes including flavonoid biosynthesis, ABA signaling, phenolamides and antioxidant. qRT–PCR results showed that expression levels of TaPRX-2A were significantly difference among various wheat cultivars. Further study indicated that overexpression of TaPRX-2A enhanced the tolerance against drought stress through maintaining higher antioxidase activities and reducing ROS content. Finally, we demonstrated that overexpression of TaPRX-2A increased the expression levels of stress-related genes and ABA-related genes. Taken together, the finding show that flavonoid, phytohormone, phenolamides and antioxidant are involved in plant response to drought stress, and TaPRX-2A is a positive regulator under drought stress. Our study provides insights on tolerance mechanisms while illustrating the potential of TaPRX-2A overexpression in enhancing drought tolerance during crop improvement programs.