COMPUTATIONAL IDENTIFICATION AND FUNCTIONAL CHARACTERIZATION OF NOVEL GENES INVOLVED IN SUGARCANE DROUGHT TOLERANCE

Abstract

Drought stress is a major constraint on sugarcane production and understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying drought tolerance is crucial for developing drought-resistant varieties. In
this study, we applied an integrative computational approach to identify novel genes and pathways involved in sugarcane drought tolerance. We integrated multi-omics data, including transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics from drought-tolerant and drought-sensitive sugarcane genotypes and performed differential expression analysis to identify candidate genes involved in drought tolerance. Using gene co-expression network analysis, we further identified
potential transcription factors and regulatory pathways involved in sugarcane drought tolerance. We functionally characterized these candidate genes using CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing and demonstrated their role in drought tolerance. Our results reveal several novel candidate genes involved in sugarcane drought tolerance, which could be used for developing drought-resistant
sugarcane cultivars using genetic engineering. Our study highlights the power of integrative computational approaches in identifying key genes and pathways involved in complex biological processes such as drought tolerance.