Transcriptome analysis reveals genes commonly responding to multiple abiotic stresses in rapeseed

Rapeseed production is limited by abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, and low temperature. Evidences suggest that common stress response genes are shared by multiple stresses. To study how rapeseed responds to abiotic stresses at transcriptional level and identify genes that regulate multiple abiotic stress tolerance, we investigated transcriptional dynamics of the rapeseed treated by abscisic acid (ABA), salt, dehydration, and cold stresses at two different time points, respectively. A total of 30,908 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) under 4 abiotic stresses were identified. There were 2568 upregulated and 4376 downregulated DEGs (2-fold change) commonly shared by four stresses. Analysis of the DEGs identified significantly enriched gene ontology biological processes under multiple stress conditions. The commonly shared DEGs included 225 upregulated and 294 downregulated transcription factors belonging to 35 and 40 different families, respectively. The representative mostly upregulated and downregulated DEGs at each time point of abiotic stress treatment were presented. We identified a list of core abiotic stress genes commonly regulated by four stresses, which mainly included ERD15, RAB18, LEA14, and transcription factors belonging to ERF, bZIP, and MYBR1 families. The findings of shared abiotic stress responsive genes may help develop strategies for breeding rapeseed varieties with improved tolerance to multiple abiotic stresses.