Uncovering Differential Molecular Basis of Adaptive Diversity in Echinochloa Transcriptomes

Echinochloa is a major weed in rice field due to its high adaptability to flooding condition. Interestingly, three major Echinochloa crus-galli (ECC) accessions (ECC-SNU1, ECC-SNU2, ECC-SNU3) collected in Korea have shown different range of adaptabilities from dry to flooding. In the search of molecular components responsible for the adaptive diversity among three Echinochloa accessions, we performed de novo assembly and comparative approach of transcriptomes. Under normal growth condition, particular groups of differentially expressed genes were significantly enriched in ECC-SNU1 which has been known to be most tolerant to flooding. These groups of genes include receptor kinase and signaling-related genes involved in stress response. Our result implied that differential gene expression in upstream regulators of signal transduction led to adaptive diversity among Echinochloa crus-galliduring evolution.