De novo transcriptome assembly and analysis of differential gene expression in response to drought in European beech.

Despite the ecological and economic importance of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) genomic resources of this species are still limited. This hampers an understanding of the molecular basis of adaptation to stress. Since beech will most likely be threatened by the consequences of climate change, a...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Markus Müller, Sarah Seifert, Torben Lübbe, Christoph Leuschner, Reiner Finkeldey
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2017-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0184167&type=printable
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850230279890796544
author Markus Müller
Sarah Seifert
Torben Lübbe
Christoph Leuschner
Reiner Finkeldey
author_facet Markus Müller
Sarah Seifert
Torben Lübbe
Christoph Leuschner
Reiner Finkeldey
author_sort Markus Müller
collection DOAJ
description Despite the ecological and economic importance of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) genomic resources of this species are still limited. This hampers an understanding of the molecular basis of adaptation to stress. Since beech will most likely be threatened by the consequences of climate change, an understanding of adaptive processes to climate change-related drought stress is of major importance. Here, we used RNA-seq to provide the first drought stress-related transcriptome of beech. In a drought stress trial with beech saplings, 50 samples were taken for RNA extraction at five points in time during a soil desiccation experiment. De novo transcriptome assembly and analysis of differential gene expression revealed 44,335 contigs, and 662 differentially expressed genes between the stress and normally watered control group. Gene expression was specific to the different time points, and only five genes were significantly differentially expressed between the stress and control group on all five sampling days. GO term enrichment showed that mostly genes involved in lipid- and homeostasis-related processes were upregulated, whereas genes involved in oxidative stress response were downregulated in the stressed seedlings. This study gives first insights into the genomic drought stress response of European beech, and provides new genetic resources for adaptation research in this species.
format Article
id doaj-art-1a0a7ca5fcc64d06be4b758c727f58cd
institution OA Journals
issn 1932-6203
language English
publishDate 2017-01-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS ONE
spelling doaj-art-1a0a7ca5fcc64d06be4b758c727f58cd2025-08-20T02:03:55ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032017-01-01129e018416710.1371/journal.pone.0184167De novo transcriptome assembly and analysis of differential gene expression in response to drought in European beech.Markus MüllerSarah SeifertTorben LübbeChristoph LeuschnerReiner FinkeldeyDespite the ecological and economic importance of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) genomic resources of this species are still limited. This hampers an understanding of the molecular basis of adaptation to stress. Since beech will most likely be threatened by the consequences of climate change, an understanding of adaptive processes to climate change-related drought stress is of major importance. Here, we used RNA-seq to provide the first drought stress-related transcriptome of beech. In a drought stress trial with beech saplings, 50 samples were taken for RNA extraction at five points in time during a soil desiccation experiment. De novo transcriptome assembly and analysis of differential gene expression revealed 44,335 contigs, and 662 differentially expressed genes between the stress and normally watered control group. Gene expression was specific to the different time points, and only five genes were significantly differentially expressed between the stress and control group on all five sampling days. GO term enrichment showed that mostly genes involved in lipid- and homeostasis-related processes were upregulated, whereas genes involved in oxidative stress response were downregulated in the stressed seedlings. This study gives first insights into the genomic drought stress response of European beech, and provides new genetic resources for adaptation research in this species.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0184167&type=printable
spellingShingle Markus Müller
Sarah Seifert
Torben Lübbe
Christoph Leuschner
Reiner Finkeldey
De novo transcriptome assembly and analysis of differential gene expression in response to drought in European beech.
PLoS ONE
title De novo transcriptome assembly and analysis of differential gene expression in response to drought in European beech.
title_full De novo transcriptome assembly and analysis of differential gene expression in response to drought in European beech.
title_fullStr De novo transcriptome assembly and analysis of differential gene expression in response to drought in European beech.
title_full_unstemmed De novo transcriptome assembly and analysis of differential gene expression in response to drought in European beech.
title_short De novo transcriptome assembly and analysis of differential gene expression in response to drought in European beech.
title_sort de novo transcriptome assembly and analysis of differential gene expression in response to drought in european beech
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0184167&type=printable
work_keys_str_mv AT markusmuller denovotranscriptomeassemblyandanalysisofdifferentialgeneexpressioninresponsetodroughtineuropeanbeech
AT sarahseifert denovotranscriptomeassemblyandanalysisofdifferentialgeneexpressioninresponsetodroughtineuropeanbeech
AT torbenlubbe denovotranscriptomeassemblyandanalysisofdifferentialgeneexpressioninresponsetodroughtineuropeanbeech
AT christophleuschner denovotranscriptomeassemblyandanalysisofdifferentialgeneexpressioninresponsetodroughtineuropeanbeech
AT reinerfinkeldey denovotranscriptomeassemblyandanalysisofdifferentialgeneexpressioninresponsetodroughtineuropeanbeech