Differential gene expression analysis on Afzal genotype of barley due to long-term salinity stress by RNA-Seq

Salt stresse is one of the most important environmental stresses, which limits plant growth and development. To survive under such conditions, plants must be able to sense and respond rapidly. Molecular studies on various plants show that these events involve complex networks of gene regulation and gene expression. Barley is one of the important crop in Triticeae plants that is tolerant in saline condition. The aim of this study is comparing gene expression patterns in that response to salinity in Afzal cultivar, one of the resistant cultivar in Iran. RNA was extracted using Trizol kit from plants under treated and control condition. RNA libraries was prepared and sequencing was done using Illumina/HiSeq platform. RNA-Seq analysis was performed using systemPipeR package. Results show that in comparative differential gene expression analysis between saline and control condition 683 genes had significant changes with FDR1.5. Bioinformatics analysis show that these genes are related to different pathway including anion ion exchanger, sodium ion transport, transition metal ion transmembrane transporter activity, protein serine/threonine phosphatase activity and lots of phosphatase activity. These large amount of achieved data can be used as a valuable information in future studies in aim of genetic manipulation in order to produce salt-tolerant cultivar.