The effect of drought stress on the expression level of MYB group genes during the early growth stages of two genotypes (Tajne and Zagros) of bread wheat

Drought is one of the most important abiotic stresses that affects the growth and development of plants. Adaptation of the plants to abiotic stresses causes changes in the expression of a large number of defense genes and their regulators, including transcription factors. MYB proteins are a large family of transcription factors that are of particular importance in regulating developmental processes and defense responses in plants. In this study, the expression level of eight MYB transcription factors from bread wheat in Tajen and Zagros cultivars was investigated in response to drought stress. RT-PCR analysis showed that almost all genes of the MYB family, including TC282418, TaMYB80, PTTa00740, TaMYB33, TaMYBR3, were expressed with 2.4, 3.2, 7.1, 6.1, and 6.6 respectively, had an increased expression compared to the control under severe stress in the Zagros genotype that was examined in this research. On the other hand, the Zagros variety, which is one of the drought stress-tolerant varieties, had a higher expression increase than the Tajen variety for all the studied genes.