Global identification of full-length cassava lncRNAs unveils the role of
CRIR1 in cold stress response
Abstract
Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been considered to be important
regulators of gene expression in a range of biological processes in
plants. A large number of lncRNAs have been identified in plants.
However, most of their biological functions still remain to be
determined. Here, we identified total 3 004 lncRNAs in cassava under
normal or cold-treated conditions from Iso-seq data. We further
characterized a lincRNA, CRIR1, as a novel positive regulator of the
plant response to cold stress. CRIR1 can be significantly induced by
cold treatment. Overexpression of CRIR1 in cassava enhanced the cold
tolerance of transgenic plants. Transcriptome analysis demonstrated that
CRIR1 regulates a range of cold stress-related genes in a
CBF-independent pathway. We further found that CRIR1 RNA can interact
with MeCSP5, a homolog of the cold shock protein that acts as RNA
chaperones, indicating that CRIR1 may recruit MeCSP5 to improve the
translation efficiency of mRNA. In summary, our study greatly extends
the repertoire of lncRNAs in plants as well as its responding to cold
stress. Moreover, it reveals a sophisticated mechanism by which CRIR1
regulates plant cold stress response by modulating the expression of
stress-responsive genes and increasing the translational yield.