Transcriptomic changes in plants during salinity stress give insights into the mechanisms with which plants stabilize their metabolic processes in order to cope with the salinity condition. Soil salinity is a major abiotic stress that limits plant growth and agricultural productivity. As pepper is a salt-sensitive vegetable crop, maintaining high K+/Na+ ratios in the tissues is important in achieving salt tolerance. We compared the transcriptomes of C.annuum under salt stress vs. control to identify candidate genes and pathways involved in salt response. Total of 70,845 genes were map by the RNA sequencing data. In which 49,077 were found to be exhibit non-significant differential expression in the roots. 4,621 genes were up regulated; 8,821genes were down regulated, while the retained genes (8,327) were found natural. The majority of the proteins have functions related to Functional and Metabolism Proteins (mitochondrial import receptor subunit TOM5 homolog (TOM5) and E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase PUB23-like (E3PUBL), Oxidative Stress Response/ROS Signaling((PCO1, pmsrB5, pd2, and NHLp6), Hormone signaling and transport(PINL3 isoform 1,2), ENOD93), Cell Wall and Cytoskeleton Metabolism((Glycine-rich proteins (GRPs) and Pectinesterase (pest)), in addition to stress and defense((Protein SAR DEFICIENT 4 (SARD-4) and acanthoscurrin-2). qRT-PCR was used to study the gene expression levels of the above-mentioned proteins. The comparative protein profiles of roots and leaves under salinity vs control improves the understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in the tolerance of plants to salt stress. This work provides a good basis for further functional elucidation of these DEGs using genetic approaches as well as candidate genes for genetic engineering to improve crop salt tolerance. |
