Transcriptome dynamics provide insights into long-term salinity stress tolerance in Triticum aestivum cv. Kharchia Local

Kharchia Local, a wheat (Triticum aestivum) cultivar, is native to the saline-sodic soils of Pali district, Rajasthan, India and well known for its salinity stress tolerance. In the present study, we performed transcriptome sequencing to compare genome wide differential expression pattern between flag leaves of salinity stressed (15 EC) and control plants at anthesis stage. The 63.9 million paired end raw reads were assembled into 74,106 unigenes, of which, 3197 unigenes were found to be differentially expressed. Functional annotation analysis revealed the upregulation of genes associated with various biological processes including signal transduction, phytohormones signaling, osmoregulation, flavonoid biosynthesis, ion transport and ROS homeostasis. Expression pattern of fourteen differentially expressed genes was validated using qRT-PCR and was found to be consistent with the results of the transcriptome sequencing. Present study is the primary report on transcriptome profiling of Kharchia Local flag leaf under long-term salinity stress at anthesis stage. In conclusion, the data generated in this study can improve our knowledge in understanding the molecular mechanism of salinity stress tolerance. It will also serve as a valuable genomic resource in wheat breeding programs.