Integration of Brassinosteroid Signal Transduction with the Transcription Network for Fiber Development and Drought Stress in Gossypium hirsutum L

Abstract

Brassinosteroids (BRs) are a family of steroid hormones present ubiquitously in plant kingdoms and regulate wide range of physiological and developmental processes. BRs signal to regulate brassinosteroid transcription factors (BRTF’s), which regulate target genes for various BR responses. However, the role of BRs in developing fiber and during drought stress which is major limiting factor in its development is still limited. Our in silico modelling using Algorithm for the Reconstruction of Accurate Cellular Networks (ARACNe) reveals that BRTF’s form a gene regulatory network (GRN) during cotton fiber development. Hierarchical clustering highlighted gene expression during acute dehydration response from early, peak and late elongation stage. SEA (Singular Enrichment Analysis) based gene ontology analysis demonstrate synergistic effect of BRs with other hormones like auxin. Our results provide a strong footprint of BRs based gene regulation in cotton fiber growth and drought stress.