Salt stress is a major constraint to crop productivity and quality, with the limited availability of salt-tolerant genes being a major challenge to breeding programs aimed at enhancing salt tolerance. Against this backdrop, sorghum, however, displays a remarkable ability to withstand saline conditions. Hence, elucidating the genetic underpinnings of this trait is of great study value.
In a new study published in the Journal of Integrative Agriculture , a team of researchers from China entailed a resequencing of 186 sorghum accessions to perform a genome-wide association study (GWAS) focusing on relative root length (RL) and root fresh weight (RFW) under salt stress conditions.
“We identified eight candidate genes within a co-localized region, among which SbTEF1 — a gene encoding a transcription elongation factor protein — was deemed a potential candidate due to its annotation and expression pattern alterations under salt stress,” shares corresponding author Yufei Zhou, a professor at Shenyang Agricultural University, China.
Further, haplotype analysis, gene cloning, linkage disequilibrium (LD) analysis, and allele effect analysis revealed that PAV284, located in the promoter region of SbTEF1 , modulated gene expression under salt stress, which, in turn, influenced sorghum seedlings’ salt tolerance.
“PAV284 holds promise as a genetic marker for selecting salt-tolerant germplasm via marker-assisted breeding, enhancing the development of salt-tolerant sorghum cultivars,” says Prof. Zhou.
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Contact the author:#Correspondence Yufei Zhou, Tel: +86-24-88487135, E-mail: zhouyufei@syau.edu.cn; Haiqiu Yu, Tel: +86-24-88487135, E-mail: yuhaiqiu@syau.edu.cn
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Journal of Integrative Agriculture
Data/statistical analysis
Cells
Natural variation in SbTEF1 contributes to salt tolerance in sorghum seedlings
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.