The role of SNARE and Shaker K+ channel genes in water stress response of foxtail millet (Setaria italica L.)

Yue Guo, Guojing Liang, Shengjun Zhou, Yuxin Wu, Ben Zhang
School of Life Science, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006 China

Foxtail millet (Setaria italica L.) is a widely cultivated crop in Asia, and its drought tolerance and water use efficiency are significantly higher than most crops. Focusing on drought-related genes in foxtail millet will have important agricultural guiding significance for revealing its drought tolerance mechanism. Our laboratory compared the drought resistance of different foxtail millet cultivars and screened 46 key differential genes consistent with the trend of drought tolerance by transcriptomics, of which 32 were first reported. At the same time, we identified and characterized the SNARE and Shaker K+ channel gene families in foxtail millet, and screened out the candidate genes related to drought stress. Preliminary studies have found that the Shaker K+ channel protein SiKAT2 interacts with SiVAMP721 and SiSNAP33 in foxtail millet. And under drought stress, SiVAMP7 proteins regulate SiKAT3 potassium channel through selective interaction, thereby affecting drought stress tolerance of foxtail millet. Furthermore, our recent work found that some shaker K+ channels were induced by ROS-dependent signaling pathways in PET nanoplastic treatment experiments, which eventually led to potassium accumulation in foxtail millet leaves.