Transcriptome analysis of genes and carbon partitioning pathways involved in high temperature stress resilience in groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.)

Bagudam, R and Mathew, A and Kancherla, E and Kadirimangalam, S R and Sudheer Kumar, S and Bajaj, P and Narender Reddy, S and Janila, P (2025) Transcriptome analysis of genes and carbon partitioning pathways involved in high temperature stress resilience in groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.). Scientific Reports (TSI), 15. pp. 1-17. ISSN 2045-2322

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Abstract

For the climate change scenarios where the temperatures during crop growing season are on the rise, tolerance to high-temperature (HT) stress in groundnut, especially during flowering and pod stages, is critical to sustain production in arid and semi-arid regions. To elucidate the regulatory mechanisms underlying the response of groundnuts to HT stress, a heat-tolerant (ICGV 16553) and a heat-sensitive (ICGV 16516) genotypes were identified based on responses in multi-season HT stress field experiments. The tolerant genotype had significantly higher total antioxidant activity and phenol content than the sensitive genotype in response to HT stress at flowering stage. Translocation studies revealed efficient sucrose loading into phloem, and increased glucose levels in the pods are indicative of an active sucrose metabolism in the tolerant genotype at the pod stage under HT stress. Transcriptomic analysis revealed a total of 1631 and 836 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) at flowering and pod stages, respectively. The identified DEGs encoded heat shock proteins, sucrose metabolism enzymes involved in photosynthate synthesis and translocation to sink tissues, transcriptional genes and antioxidants which played a major role in mitigating the effects of HT stress. The genes response in both sensitive and tolerant genotypes at each stage can provide valuable insights for future investigations and the genetic improvement of groundnut for heat tolerance mechanisms.

Item Type:	Article
Divisions:	Global Research Program - Accelerated Crop Improvement
CRP:	CGIAR Research Program on Grain Legumes and Dryland Cereals (GLDC)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Antioxidant, Carbon partitioning, Groundnut, Gene expression, High-temperature stress, Sugars
Subjects:	Mandate crops > Groundnut Others > Genetics and Genomics
Depositing User:	Mr Nagaraju T
Date Deposited:	20 Feb 2026 04:18
Last Modified:	20 Feb 2026 04:18
URI:	http://oar.icrisat.org/id/eprint/13490
Official URL:	https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-15509-4
Projects:	UNSPECIFIED
Funders:	Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Fund for International Development (OFID)
Acknowledgement:	Authors are thankful to Dr. Yogendra Kalenahalli for reviewing the manuscript and providing the laboratory facility for gene validation studies at Platform for Translational Research on Transgenic Crops (PTTC), ICRISAT. The authors acknowledge Controlled Environment Research Facility (CERF), ICRISAT for the technical assistance in growth chamber experiments and Centre of Excellence in Genomics & Systems Biology (CEG), ICRISAT for providing support for the conduct of RNA Seq analysis. The authors also acknowledge the support of Department of Entomology, ICRISAT for the conduct of microscopic studies.
Links:	Google Scholar

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