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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2021.05.23.445339

Positive Selection and Heat-Response Transcriptomes Reveal Adaptive Features of the Arabidopsis Desert Relative, Anastatica hierochuntica

Eshel, G.·Duppen, N.·Wang, G.·Oh, D.-H.·Kazachkova, Y.·Herzyk, P.·Amtmann, A.·Gordon, M.·Chalifa-Caspi, V.·Oscar, M. A.·Bar-David, S.·Marshall-Colon, A.·Dassanayake, M.·Barak, S.
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Abstract

O_LIPlant adaptation to a desert environment and its endemic heat stress is poorly understood at the molecular level. The naturally heat-tolerant Brassicaceae species Anastatica hierochuntica is an ideal extremophyte model to identify genetic adaptations that have evolved to allow plants to tolerate heat stress and thrive in deserts. C_LIO_LIWe generated an A. hierochuntica reference transcriptome and pinpointed extremophyte adaptations by comparing Arabidopsis thaliana and A. hierochuntica transcriptome responses to heat and identifying positively selected genes in A. hierochuntica. C_LIO_LIThe two species exhibit similar transcriptome adjustment in response to heat and the A. hierochuntica transcriptome does not exist in a constitutive heat "stress-ready" state. Furthermore, the A. hierochuntica global transcriptome as well as heat-responsive orthologs, display a lower basal and higher heat-induced expression than in A. thaliana. Genes positively selected in multiple extremophytes are associated with stomatal opening, nutrient acquisition, and UV-B induced DNA repair while those unique to A. hierochuntica are consistent with its photoperiod-insensitive, early-flowering phenotype. C_LIO_LIWe suggest that evolution of a flexible transcriptome confers the ability to quickly react to extreme diurnal temperature fluctuations characteristic of a desert environment while positive selection of genes involved in stress tolerance and early flowering could facilitate an opportunistic desert lifestyle. C_LI

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Eshel, G., Duppen, N., Wang, G., Oh, D.-H., Kazachkova, Y., Herzyk, P., Amtmann, A., Gordon, M., Chalifa-Caspi, V., Oscar, M. A., Bar-David, S., Marshall-Colon, A., Dassanayake, M., Barak, S.. 2021-05-23. Positive Selection and Heat-Response Transcriptomes Reveal Adaptive Features of the Arabidopsis Desert Relative, Anastatica hierochuntica. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.05.23.445339

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