The study highlights the physiological and multiomics (transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics) response of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) under drought stress from root tissues of four contrasting drought-responsive chickpea genotypes.
Integration of transcriptomics and proteomics data identified several drought responsive marker genes which can be used for marker assisted breeding approach. These proteins highlighted the involvement of pathways such as antibiotic biosynthesis, galactose metabolism, and isoflavonoid biosynthesis in activating drought stress response mechanisms. Subsequently, the integration of metabolomics data identified six metabolites that showed a significant correlation with galactose metabolism.
Integration of root-omics data also revealed some key candidate genes underlying the drought-responsive “QTL-hotspot” region. These results provided key insights into complex molecular mechanisms underlying drought stress response in chickpea.
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