Expression Analysis of Stress-Related genes involved in the response of Durum wheat to salinity and high light
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Abstract
The study of stress-related genes is critical to understand the molecular
mechanisms of stress tolerance in plants. Several studies have
demonstrated the important role of asparagine synthetase, glutamate
decarboxylase and Δ1
-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthase genes signalling
in response to environmental stresses. In order to investigate the
expression changes of these genes in durum wheat under salinity and
high light, a semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis was performed. High
light increased the gene expression level of TdAsn1 alone (2.6 fold) and
in combination with salinity (2 fold) in comparison with the control at
low light. The isoforms TdAsn2 was expressed at low levels compared to
TdAsn1 and the transcript was present only in leaves in control conditions
or simultaneous stresses . A trend similar to that of TdAsn1 was observed
for P5CS expression. On the contrary, GAD expression was decreased
by salinity and high light (1.1 and 1.5-fold, respectively) and even more
under the two combined stresses (3.7 fold) compared to control. The
expression levels were compared to the respective enzymatic activities.
Our expression data confirmed the pivotal role of the studied genes in
the response to abiotic stresses in durum wheat