A superior gene allele involved in abscisic acid signaling enhances drought tolerance and yield in chickpea

Thakro, V and Malik, N and Basu, U and Srivastava, R and Narnoliya, L and Daware, A and Varshney, N and Mohanty, J K and Bajaj, D and Dwivedi, V and Tripathi, S and Jha, U C and Dixit, G P and Singh, A K and Tyagi, A K and Upadhyaya, H D and Parida, S K (2022) A superior gene allele involved in abscisic acid signaling enhances drought tolerance and yield in chickpea. Plant Physiology, 191 (3). pp. 1884-1912. ISSN 0032-0889

PDF - Published Version Available under License ["licenses_description_cc_attribution" not defined]. Download (2MB)

Abstract

Identifying potential molecular tags for drought tolerance is essential for achieving higher crop productivity under drought stress. We employed an integrated genomics-assisted breeding and functional genomics strategy involving association mapping, fine mapping, map-based cloning, molecular haplotyping and transcript profiling in the introgression lines (ILs)- and near isogenic lines (NILs)-based association panel and mapping population of chickpea (Cicer arietinum). This combinatorial approach delineated a bHLH (basic helix–loop–helix) transcription factor, CabHLH10 (Cicer arietinum bHLH10) underlying a major QTL, along with its derived natural alleles/haplotypes governing yield traits under drought stress in chickpea. CabHLH10 binds to a cis-regulatory G-box promoter element to modulate the expression of RD22 (responsive to desiccation 22), a drought/abscisic acid (ABA)-responsive gene (via a trans-expression QTL), and two strong yield-enhancement photosynthetic efficiency (PE) genes. This, in turn, upregulates other downstream drought-responsive and ABA signaling genes, as well as yield-enhancing PE genes, thus increasing plant adaptation to drought with reduced yield penalty. We showed that a superior allele of CabHLH10 introgressed into the NILs improved root and shoot biomass and PE, thereby enhancing yield and productivity during drought without compromising agronomic performance. Furthermore, overexpression of CabHLH10 in chickpea and Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) conferred enhanced drought tolerance by improving root and shoot agro-morphological traits. These findings facilitate translational genomics for crop improvement and the development of genetically tailored, climate-resilient, high-yielding chickpea cultivars.

Item Type:	Article
Divisions:	Genebank
CRP:	UNSPECIFIED
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Chickpea, drought tolerance, yield, gene allele
Subjects:	Others > Drought Tolerance Mandate crops > Chickpea
Depositing User:	Mr Nagaraju T
Date Deposited:	05 Sep 2023 11:42
Last Modified:	05 Sep 2023 11:42
URI:	http://oar.icrisat.org/id/eprint/12176
Official URL:	https://academic.oup.com/plphys/article/191/3/1884...
Projects:	UNSPECIFIED
Funders:	Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology, India
Acknowledgement:	We are thankful to Mr. Sube Singh, lead scientific officer, Grain Legumes Research Program/Genebank, ICRISAT, Hyderabad for assisting in collecting multi-environment field phenotyping data for the introgression lines (ILs), germplasm accessions, and mapping population. We are very grateful to all of the scientific and technical staff members of NIPGR and IARI (Indian Council of Agricultural Research), New Delhi and ICRISAT, Hyderabad who provided valuable guidance, suggestions, constant encouragement, and timely support of the research. We are also thankful to the Central Instrumentation Facility (CIF), Plant Growth Facility (PGF), and DBT-eLibrary Consortium (DeLCON) of NIPGR, New Delhi for providing timely support and access to e-resources for this study.
Links:	Google Scholar

View Statistics

Actions (login required)

View Item