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Regulation of small RNA-mediated high temperature stress responses in crop plants

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Abstract

Key message

Small RNAs have emerged as key players of gene expression regulation. Several lines of evidences highlight their role in modulating high temperature stress responsiveness in plants.

Abstract

Throughout their life cycle, plants have to regulate their gene expression at various developmental phases, physiological changes, and in response to biotic or environmental stress. High temperature is one the most common abiotic stress for crop plants, that results in impaired morphology, physiology, and yield. However, plants have certain mechanisms that enable them to withstand such conditions by modulating the expression of stress-related genes. Small RNA (sRNA)-regulated gene expression is one such mechanism which is ubiquitous in all eukaryotes. The sRNAs mainly include micro RNAs (miRNAs) and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs). They are primarily associated with the gene silencing either through translation inhibition, mRNA degradation, or DNA methylation. During high temperature stress the increased or decreased level of miRNAs altered the protein accumulation of target transcripts and, therefore, regulate stress responses. Several reports are available in plants which are genetically engineered through expressing artificial miRNAs resulted in thermotolerance. sRNAs have also been reported to bring the epigenetic changes on chromatin region through RNA-dependent DNA methylation (RdDM). The present article draws a brief illustration of sRNA origin, their functional mechanisms, role in high temperature stress, and possible application for developing stress tolerant crop plants.

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Acknowledgements

Authors’ work in this area is supported by J.C. Bose National Fellowship Grant of Department of Science and Technology [JCB/2018/000001] and core grant of DBT-NIPGR. RKS acknowledges the DBT Multi-institutional project entitled—“Germplasm Characterization and Trait Discovery in Wheat using Genomics Approaches and its Integration for Improving Climate Resilience, Productivity and Nutritional quality" under mission programme of "Characterisation of Genetic Resources”, [BT/Ag/Network/Wheat/2019-20] for the research grant. AP and JM acknowledge the research fellowship from Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Govt. of India. The authors are thankful to DBT-eLibrary Consortium (DeLCON) for providing access to e-resources.

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  1. Roshan Kumar Singh, Ashish Prasad and Jyoti Maurya have contributed equally.

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  1. National Institute of Plant Genome Research, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi, 110067, India

    Roshan Kumar Singh, Ashish Prasad, Jyoti Maurya & Manoj Prasad

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MP conceived the idea and outlined the review. RKS, AP, and JM prepared the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Manoj Prasad.

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Communicated by Vijay Pratap Singh.

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Singh, R.K., Prasad, A., Maurya, J. et al. Regulation of small RNA-mediated high temperature stress responses in crop plants. Plant Cell Rep 41, 765–773 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-021-02745-x

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