Variable Expression of the Candidate Gene NCED1 Among Cowpea Accessions under Different Drought Stress Conditions

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Department of Plant Science and Biotechnology, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State, Nigeria

2 Department of Biochemistry, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Drought significantly reduces cowpea productivity. Information on genetic variation for differential expression of candidate genes for drought tolerance among cowpea genotypes, from which improvement plan could be drawn is limited in Nigeria. Variability of expression of the candidate gene NCED1 in cowpea was analyzed under different drought stress conditions. Primers based on NCED1 and P-Actin (used as an internal control) successfully amplified products from both stressed and unstressed accessions of cowpea. Contradictory responses were observed among drought-tolerant (mean STI > 0.57) and susceptible accessions (mean STI ˂ 0.57). NCED1 was significantly repressed by drought stress in all accessions, except in AC10, AC11, AC13 (tolerant accessions), and AC12 (susceptible accession). The results from stressed and unstressed conditions confirmed that the gene is expressed in both conditions. Biplot divided the accessions into four major groups, with most of the tolerant accessions in groups I and II, while most of the susceptible accessions occupied III and IV. Tolerant accessions such as AC22, AC15, AC23, AC13, AC10, AC11, and AC21 that combined higher plant height and dry root weight under drought stress with stress tolerance indices (STIs) possessed higher gene expression under both control and drought stress conditions. Therefore, positive correlations between the expression of the gene in both conditions and plant height under stress, on one hand, dry root weight under stress on the other hand, and the STIs confirm that its expression may be involved in drought tolerance of cowpea. Hence, the selection of cowpea based on higher levels of gene expression among accessions under both conditions may be effective for breeding drought-tolerant cowpea.

Keywords

References

Agbicodo EM, Fatokun CA, Muranaka S, Visser RG. 2009. Breeding drought tolerant cowpea: constraints, accomplishments, and future prospects. Euphytica 167: 353-370.
Ajayi AT, Gbadamosi AE, Olumekun VO. 2017b. Correlation and principal component analyses of important traits of cowpea seedlings under drought stress. Proc 41st Genetics Society of Nigeria, Makurdi, Nigeria: Majik-Fingers Press.
Ajayi AT, Gbadamosi AE, Olumekun VO. 2018. Screening for drought tolerance in cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp) at seedling stage under screen house condition. Int J Biosci Technol 11: 1-9.
Ajayi AT, Olumekun VO, Gbadamosi AE. 2017a. Estimates of genetic variation among drought tolerant traits of cowpea at seedling stage. Int J Plant Res 7: 48-57.
Ajayi AT. 2019. Drought tolerance indices and variability in abscisic acid accumulation among accessions of cowpea under drought stress. Sci Res Ann 10 (special edition): 245-252.
Ajayi AT. 2020. Relationships among drought tolerance indices and yield characters of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L Walp). Int J Sci Res Biol Sci 7: 93-103.
Al-Rawi IMD. 2016. Study of drought tolerance indices in some bread and durum wheat cultivars. Jordan J Agric Sci 12: 1125-1139.
Carvalho M, Lino-Neto T, Rosa E, Carnide V. 2017. Cowpea: a legume crop for a challenging environment. J Sci Food Agric 97:4273-4284.
Changan SS, Ali K, Kumar V, Garg NK, Tyagi A. 2018. Abscisic acid biosynthesis under water stress: anomalous behavior of the 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase1 (NCED1) gene in rice. Biol Plant 62:663-670.
Chaves MM, Pereira JS, Maroco J, Rodrigues ML, Ricardo CP, Pinheiro C. 2002. How plants cope with water stress in the field? Photosynthesis and growth. Ann Bot 89:907-916.
Chen Z, Xu J, Wang F, Wang L, Xu Z. 2019. Morpho-physiological and proteomic responses to water stress in two contrasting tobacco varieties. Sci Rep 9:1-5.
Contour-Ansel D, Torres-Franklin ML, Zuily-Fodil Y, De Carvalho MH. 2010. An aspartic acid protease from common bean is expressed ‘on call’during water stress and early recovery. J Plant Physiol 167:1606-1612.
Diop NN, Kidrič M, Repellin A, Gareil M, d'Arcy-Lameta A, Zuily-Fodil Y. 2004. A multicystatin is induced by drought-stress in cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) leaves. FEBS Letters 577:545-550.
Du M, Zhai Q, Deng L, Li S, Li H, Li CB. 2014. Closely related NAC transcription factors of tomato differentially regulate stomatal closure and reopening during pathogen attack.  Plant Cell 26:3167-3184.
Gazendam I, Oelofse D. 2007. Isolation of cowpea genes conferring drought tolerance: construction of a cDNA drought expression library. Water SA 33: 387-392.
González-Villagra J, Rodrigues-Salvador A, Nunes-Nesi A, Cohen JD, Reyes-Díaz MM. 2018. Age-related mechanism and its relationship with secondary metabolism and abscisic acid in Aristotelia chilensis plants subjected to drought stress. Plant Physiol Biochem 124:136-145.
He R, Zhuang Y, Cai Y, Agüero CB, Liu S, Zhang Y. 2018. Overexpression of 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase cisgene in grapevine increases drought tolerance and results in pleiotropic effects. Front Plant Sci 9:970. doi:10.3389/fpls.2018.00970.
Ishiyaku MF, Yilwa VM. 2009. New source of drought tolerance in cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp) from irradiation induced mutation. Niger J Bot 22: 53-60.
Iuchi S, Kobayashi M, Yamaguchi K, Shinozaki K. 2000. A stress-inducible gene for 9 – cis – epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase involved in abscisic acid biosynthesis under water stress in drought tolerant cowpea. Plant Physiol 123: 553-562.
Iuchi S, Yamaguchi K, Urao T, Shinozaki K. 1996. Novel drought-inducible genes in highly drought tolerant cowpea: Cloning of cDNAs and analysis of their expression. Plant Cell Physiol 37: 1073-1082.
Leite JP, Barbosa EG, Marin SR, Marinho JP, Carvalho JF, Guimarães FC. 2014. Overexpression of the activated form of the AtAREB1 gene (AtAREB1^ QT) improves soybean responses to water deficit. Genet Mol Res 13: 6272-6286.
Maarouf HE, Zuily-Fodil Y, Gareil M, d'Arcy-Lameta A, Pham-Thi AT. 1999. Enzymatic activity and gene expression under water stress of phospholipase D in two cultivars of Vigna unguiculata L. Walp. differing in drought tolerance. Plant Mol Biol 39:1257-1265.
Matos AR, d’Arcy-Lameta A, França M, Pêtres S, Edelman L, Pham-Thi AT. 2001. A novel patatin-like gene stimulated by drought stress encodes a galactolipid acyl hydrolase. FEBS Letters 491:188-192.
Muchero W, Ehlers JD, Roberts PA. 2010. Restriction site polymorphism-based candidate gene mapping for seedling drought tolerance in cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.]. Theor Appl Genet 120:509-518.
Muñoz-Espinoza VA, López-Climent MF, Casaretto JA, Gómez-Cadenas A. 2015. Water stress responses of tomato mutants impaired in hormone biosynthesis reveal abscisic acid, jasmonic acid and salicylic acid interactions. Front Plant Sci 6:997. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2015.00997.
Otwe EP. 2007. Genetic diversity, candidate genes and gene expression in relation to drought tolerance in Ghanaian cowpeas (Vigna unguiculata) (Doctoral dissertation, University of Leicester). https://leicester.figshare.com/articles/thesis.
Sabiel SAI, Abdumula AA, Bashir EMA, Khan S, Yinying S, Bashir W. 2014. Genetic variation of plant height and stem diameter traits in maize (Zea mays L.) under drought stress at different growth stages. J Nat Sci Res 4: 116-122.
Tian L, Della Penna D, Zeevaart JAD. 2004. Effects of hydroxylated carotenoid deficiency on ABA accumulation in Arabidopsis. Physiol Plant 122: 314-320.
Ye N, Zhu G, Liu Y, Li Y, Zhang J. 2011. ABA controls H2O2 accumulation through the induction of OsCATB in rice leaves under water stress. Plant Cell Physiol 52: 689-698.
Zhang J, Nasir F, Kong Y, Tian L, Batool A, Tian C. 2017. Drought stress shapes the root-associated bacterial and fungal community structure in soybean genotypes. Pak J Bot 49: 1933-1942.
Journal of Genetic Resources
Volume 7, Issue 1
2021
Pages 133-143

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics