AUTHOR=Cao Haishun , Wang Rui , Zhao Junhong , Shi Liangliang , Huang Yuan , Wu Tingquan , Zhang Changyuan 

TITLE=Genome-wide identification and expression analysis of the cryptochromes reveal the CsCRY1 role under low-light-stress in cucumber

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=15

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2024.1371435

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2024.1371435

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Introduction</title><p>Low-light-stress is a common meteorological disaster that can result in slender seedlings. The photoreceptors play a crucial role in perceiving and regulating plants' tolerance to low-light-stress. However, the low-light-stress tolerance of cucumber has not been effectively evaluated, and the functions of these photoreceptor genes in cucumber, particularly under low-light-stress conditions, are not clear.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>Herein, we evaluated the growth characteristics of cucumber seedlings under various LED light treatment. The low-light-stress tolerant cucumber CR and intolerant cucumber CR were used as plant materials for gene expression analysis, and then the function of <italic>CsCRY1</italic> was analyzed.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>The results revealed that light treatment below 40 μmol m<sup>-2</sup> s<sup>-1</sup> can quickly and effectively induce low-light-stress response. Then, cucumber CR exhibited remarkable tolerance to low-light-stress was screened. Moreover, a total of 11 photoreceptor genes were identified and evaluated. Among them, the cryptochrome 1 (<italic>CRY1</italic>) had the highest expression level and was only induced in the low-light sensitive cucumber CS. The transcript <italic>CsaV3_3G047490.1</italic> is predicted to encode a previously unknown CsCRY1 protein, which lacks 70 amino acids at its C-terminus due to alternative 5′ splice sites within the final intron of the <italic>CsCRY1</italic> gene.</p></sec><sec><title>Discussion</title><p>CRY1 is a crucial photoreceptor that plays pivotal roles in regulating plants' tolerance to low-light stress. In this study, we discovered that alternative splicing of <italic>CsCRY1</italic> generates multiple transcripts encoding distinct CsCRY1 protein variants, providing valuable insights for future exploration and utilization of CsCRY1 in cucumber.</p></sec>