Identification and expression pattern analysis of some HSF genes in lentil (Lens culinaris L.), under water deficit condition

Abiotic stresses, including drought in plants, lead to physiological and biochemical changes that are controlled by regulating gene expression. Transcription factors are considered as the most key molecular elements for regulating genes in response to biotic or abiotic stresses. The role of Heat shock transcription factors (HSFs) in the molecular mechanism of response to various abiotic stresses has been confirmed; therefore, this study used the analysis of RNA sequencing data to identify, classify and evaluate changes in HSF expression in lentil under water-deficit stress, and finally, the expression of some transcripts were examined using qRT-PCR. From the total assembled transcripts of lentil, 35 transcripts belonging to three HSF classes were identified. Also, according to the results, the expression of 14.28% of the identified transcripts, which often belonged to class A, is altered in lentil under water-deficit stress. The expression of 14.28% of the identified transcripts, most of which belonged to class A, is altered in lentil under water-deficit stress. In general, the results show that changes in the expression of some transcripts of one HSF gene take precedence over those of other transcripts of that gene in response to drought stress; therefore, it is of particular importance to study alternative splicing in response to this environmental factor in lentil. The HSF genes identified in this study can be used in future experiments to understand better the molecular mechanism of water-deficit stress tolerance in lentil.