Mulberry drought stress induces novel long noncoding RNAs

What is it about?

Mulberry plant (Morus alba) is a significant economic plant in the sericulture industry. Drought stress is a key environmental factor affecting plant growth and development. The plant genome can produce long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), which regulate gene expression in response to drought stress. Thus, research is required to better understand white mulberry (Morus alba L.) long noncoding response to drought response mechanism. This study conducted a comparative transcriptome study comparing two treatments: drought-stressed and well-watered plants, and discovered that mulberry drought-stress response induces novel long noncoding RNAs and messenger RNAs. The novel long noncoding RNAs interact with messenger RNAs to form gene regulatory networks. The observed long noncoding RNAs and their target genes were related to the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites pathways.

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Photo by Viviane Pasta on Unsplash

Photo by Viviane Pasta on Unsplash

Why is it important?

To date, no research on long noncoding response to drought stress in mulberry has been conducted and, thus, requires research to reveal the long noncoding mechanisms response to drought stress in mulberry plants. This study conducted a comparative transcriptome study comparing two treatments: drought-stressed and well-watered plants and discovered that mulberry drought-stress response induces novel long noncoding RNAs and messenger RNAs. The novel long noncoding RNAs interact with messenger RNAs to form gene regulatory networks. The messenger RNAs are mainly antioxidant genes. The observed long noncoding RNAs and their target genes were implicated in the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites pathways. Our findings reveal that mulberry plants recruit long noncoding RNAs and their target mRNAs, as well as microRNAs, to respond to drought stress situations, which will be critical to mulberry breeding programs.

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