Gene Coexpression Analysis Identifies Genes Associated with Chlorophyll Content and Relative Water Content in Pearl Millet

Abstract

Pearl millet is a significant crop that is tolerant to abiotic stresses and is a staple food of arid regions. However, its underlying mechanisms of stress tolerance are not fully understood. Plant survival is regulated by the ability to perceive a stress signal and induce appropriate physiological changes. Here, we screened for genes regulating physiological changes such as chlorophyll content (CC) and relative water content (RWC) in response to abiotic stress by using “weighted gene coexpression network analysis” (WGCNA) and clustering changes in physiological traits, i.e., CC and RWC associated with gene expression. Genes’ correlations with traits were defined in the form of modules, and different color names were used to denote a particular module. Modules are groups of genes with similar patterns of expression, which also tend to be functionally related and co-regulated. In WGCNA, the dark green module (7082 genes) showed a significant positive correlation with CC, and the black (1393 genes) module was negatively correlated with CC and RWC. Analysis of the module positively correlated with CC highlighted ribosome synthesis and plant hormone signaling as the most significant pathways. Potassium transporter 8 and monothiol glutaredoxin were reported as the topmost hub genes in the dark green module. In Clust analysis, 2987 genes were found to display a correlation with increasing CC and RWC. Furthermore, the pathway analysis of these clusters identified the ribosome and thermogenesis as positive regulators of RWC and CC, respectively. Our study provides novel insights into the molecular mechanisms regulating CC and RWC in pearl millet.

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Nutritional Significance and Biotechnology Based Improvement of Key Millet Crops : A Review

“…Understanding pearl millet's physiological and molecular responses to abiotic stressors has been the focus of several research initiatives (Fritsche-Neto et al, 2012). By clustering changes in physiological traits, such as CC and RWC associated with gene expression, Shinde et al (2023) examined for genes regulating physiological changes, like as chlorophyll content (CC) and relative water content (RWC), in response to abiotic stress using "weighted gene co-expression network analysis" (WGCNA). The relationships between genes and characteristics were characterized as modules, with each module being identified by a separate color name.…”

“…Raut et al (2023) investigated millet breeding improvements for improved characteristics, developments in processing methods and the influence of biotech and climate-smart farming practices. In this instance, we provide them with further recent and significant articles that discuss the application of biotechnology to improve the major millets crops (Ceasar, 2022;Wilson and VanBuren, 2022;Shinde et al, 2023;Ingle et al, 2023;Rouamba et al, 2024;Haq et al, 2024;Jaiswal et al, 2024).…”

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