Integrated multi-omics analysis reveals drought stress response mechanism in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Author(s)
Himabindu Kudapa, Arindam Ghatak, Rutwik Barmukh, Palak Chaturvedi, Aamir Khan, Sandip Kale, Lena Fragner, Annapurna Chitikineni, Wolfram Weckwerth, Rajeev K. Varshney
Abstract

Drought is one of the major constraints limiting chickpea productivity. To unravel complex mechanisms regulating drought response in chickpea, we generated transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics datasets from root tissues of four contrasting drought-responsive chickpea genotypes: ICC 4958, JG 11, and JG 11+ (drought-tolerant), and ICC 1882 (drought-sensitive) under control and drought stress conditions. Integration of transcriptomics and proteomics data identified enriched hub proteins encoding isoflavone 4′-O-methyltransferase, UDP-d-glucose/UDP-d-galactose 4-epimerase, and delta-1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthetase. 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 (fructose, galactose, glucose, myoinositol, galactinol, and raffinose) 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.

Organisation(s)
Functional and Evolutionary Ecology, Research Platform Vienna Metabolomics Center
External organisation(s)
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) India, Leibniz-Institut für Pflanzengenetik und Kulturpflanzenforschung, Murdoch University
Journal
Plant Genome
Volume
17
ISSN
0011-183X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/tpg2.20337
Publication date
03-2024
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
106057 Metabolomics, 106037 Proteomics, 106031 Plant physiology, 106002 Biochemistry
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Genetics, Agronomy and Crop Science, Plant Science
Portal url
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/integrated-multiomics-analysis-reveals-drought-stress-response-mechanism-in-chickpea-cicer-arietinum-l(63ebe2d5-a556-4541-b007-ce9d685612b2).html