Functional analysis of long non-coding RNAs involved in alkaline stress responses in wheat

Abstract Saline-alkali soil is a major environmental problem affecting crop productivity. One of the most effective approaches to combat it is to breed stress-tolerant plants through genetic engineering. Shanrong No. 4 (SR4) is an alkaline-tolerant cultivar of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) derived from asymmetric somatic hybridization between the common wheat cultivar Jinan 177 (JN177) and tall wheatgrass. In this study, we aimed to explore the structure and function of alkalinity stress-responsive long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in wheat. Sequencing was employed to identify the lncRNAs associated with stress tolerance and their corresponding targets. Approximately 19 000 novel lncRNA sequences were detected in SR4 and JN177. Upon exposure to alkaline stress, SR4 differentially expressed 5691 lncRNAs, whilst JN177 differentially expressed 5932. We selected five of them (L0760, L6247, L0208, L2098, and L3065) and generated seedlings of transiently knocked down strains using the virus-induced gene-silencing method. Knockdown of L0760 and L2098 caused the plants to exhibit sensitivity to alkaline stress, whereas knockdown of L6247, L0208, and L3065 increased the ability of plants to tolerate alkaline stress. We constructed lncRNA–miRNA–target-mRNA networks and alkali-response-related lncRNA–target-mRNA association networks to analyse the functions of lncRNAs. Collectively, our results demonstrate that lncRNAs may perform different roles under alkaline stress conditions.