Assessment of NAC2, MYB and CBF14 genes expression in susceptible and resistant Aegilops genotypes to salinity

Salinity is one of the main environmental factors limiting production and distribution of plants worldwide. Aegilops is a wild species from grasses family with useful genes such as environmental stress tolerance. Two genotypes, 575 from Aegilop cylindrica as resistant and 675 from Aegilop crassa as sensitive to salinity were used base on previous experiments in salinity stress. After seed germination, the seedlings were transferred to a sandy environment under controlled light and temperature conditions and irrigation was performed under two normal conditions and 200 mM salinity with Hoagland solution. Leaf tissue samples were taken at 0, 6, 24, 48 and 72 hours after salinity treatments. After extracting the RNA and the cDNA synthesis, its accuracy was verified by 18S rRNA. The expression of the three transcription factors of CBF14, NAC2 and MYB was investigated by using Real Time-PCR. Results showed that NAC2 and CBF14 transcription factors had the highest expression at 48 hours after salinity stress, but the MYB gene had the highest expression at 24 hours after stress. Overall, the expression of CBF14, NAC2, and MYB genes in the 575 genotype compared with genotype 675 was in higher level in all hours. The results showed that the three mentioned genes play important role in salt tolerance in the tolerant genotype, therefore, considering the high genetic similarity between Aegilops and wheat, the genes can be as candidate genes for using in wheat breeding programs.