Genome-wide transcriptome analysis reveals that cadmium stress signaling controls the expression of genes in drought stress signal pathways in rice

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 9; no. 5; p. e96946
• Main Authors: Oono, Youko, Yazawa, Takayuki, Kawahara, Yoshihiro, Kanamori, Hiroyuki, Kobayashi, Fuminori, Sasaki, Harumi, Mori, Satomi, Wu, Jianzhong, Handa, Hirokazu, Itoh, Takeshi, Matsumoto, Takashi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 09.05.2014; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Analysis; Arabidopsis; Biology and Life Sciences; Cadmium; Cadmium - metabolism; Cadmium - toxicity; Cation Transport Proteins - genetics; Cation Transport Proteins - metabolism; Chelating agents; Cloning; DNA microarrays; Drought; Droughts; Enzymes; Exposure; Gene expression; Gene Expression Profiling; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant - drug effects; Genes; Genetic research; Genomes; Genomics; Heavy metals; Hydroponics; Ligands; Metal concentrations; Molecular modelling; Multigene Family - genetics; Oryza; Oryza - cytology; Oryza - drug effects; Oryza - genetics; Oryza - physiology; Oxidative stress; Plant growth; Proteins; Ribonucleic acid; Rice; RNA; Sequence Analysis, RNA; Signal Transduction - drug effects; Signal Transduction - genetics; Signaling; Stress, Physiological - drug effects; Stress, Physiological - genetics; Stresses; Transcription; Up-Regulation - drug effects; Japan
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0096946

Plant growth is severely affected by toxic concentrations of the non-essential heavy metal cadmium (Cd). Comprehensive transcriptome analysis by RNA-Seq following cadmium exposure is required to further understand plant responses to Cd and facilitate future systems-based analyses of the underlying regulatory networks. In this study, rice plants were hydroponically treated with 50 µM Cd for 24 hours and ∼60,000 expressed transcripts, including transcripts that could not be characterized by microarray-based approaches, were evaluated. Upregulation of various ROS-scavenging enzymes, chelators and metal transporters demonstrated the appropriate expression profiles to Cd exposure. Gene Ontology enrichment analysis of the responsive transcripts indicated the upregulation of many drought stress-related genes under Cd exposure. Further investigation into the expression of drought stress marker genes such as DREB suggested that expression of genes in several drought stress signal pathways was activated under Cd exposure. Furthermore, qRT-PCR analyses of randomly selected Cd-responsive metal transporter transcripts under various metal ion stresses suggested that the expression of Cd-responsive transcripts might be easily affected by other ions. Our transcriptome analysis demonstrated a new transcriptional network linking Cd and drought stresses in rice. Considering our data and that Cd is a non-essential metal, the network underlying Cd stress responses and tolerance, which plants have developed to adapt to other stresses, could help to acclimate to Cd exposure. Our examination of this transcriptional network provides useful information for further studies of the molecular mechanisms of plant adaptation to Cd exposure and the improvement of tolerance in crop species.