Circadian regulation of the transcriptome in a complex polyploid crop.

The circadian clock is a finely balanced timekeeping mechanism that coordinates programmes of gene expression. It is currently unknown how the clock regulates expression of homoeologous genes in polyploids. Here, we generate a high-resolution time-course dataset to investigate the circadian balance...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hannah Rees, Rachel Rusholme-Pilcher, Paul Bailey, Joshua Colmer, Benjamen White, Connor Reynolds, Sabrina Jaye Ward, Benedict Coombes, Calum A Graham, Luíza Lane de Barros Dantas, Antony N Dodd, Anthony Hall
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2022-10-01
Series:PLoS Biology
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3001802&type=printable
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Summary:The circadian clock is a finely balanced timekeeping mechanism that coordinates programmes of gene expression. It is currently unknown how the clock regulates expression of homoeologous genes in polyploids. Here, we generate a high-resolution time-course dataset to investigate the circadian balance between sets of 3 homoeologous genes (triads) from hexaploid bread wheat. We find a large proportion of circadian triads exhibit imbalanced rhythmic expression patterns, with no specific subgenome favoured. In wheat, period lengths of rhythmic transcripts are found to be longer and have a higher level of variance than in other plant species. Expression of transcripts associated with circadian controlled biological processes is largely conserved between wheat and Arabidopsis; however, striking differences are seen in agriculturally critical processes such as starch metabolism. Together, this work highlights the ongoing selection for balance versus diversification in circadian homoeologs and identifies clock-controlled pathways that might provide important targets for future wheat breeding.
ISSN:1544-9173
1545-7885