# De novo transcriptomic analysis of Doum Palm (Hyphaene compressa) revealed an insight into its potential drought tolerance

## TL;DR

This study analyzes the transcriptome of the Doum Palm to understand its molecular mechanisms for drought tolerance, providing a foundation for future genetic improvements.

## Contribution

The first de novo transcriptomic analysis of Doum Palm under drought stress, identifying key genes and pathways involved in drought tolerance.

## Key findings

- The study assembled a transcriptome with 193,167 unigenes, 66.63% of which were annotated.
- Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified, with 45,071 up-regulated and 42,457 down-regulated under drought stress.
- Key transcription factor families like MYB, WRKY, and NAC were found to be involved in drought stress tolerance.

## Abstract

Doum palms (Hyphaene compressa) perform a crucial starring role in the lives of Kenya’s arid and semi-arid people for empowerment and sustenance. Despite the crop’s potential for economic gain, there is a lack of genetic resources and detailed information about its domestication at the molecular level. Given the doum palm’s vast potential as a widely distributed plant in semi-arid and arid climates and a source of many applications, coupled with the current changing climate scenario, it is essential to understand the molecular processes that provide drought resistance to this plant.

Assembly of the first transcriptome of doum palms subjected to water stress generated about 39.97 Gb of RNA-Seq data. The assembled transcriptome revealed 193,167 unigenes with an average length of 1655 bp, with 128,708 (66.63%) successfully annotated in seven public databases. Unigenes exhibited significant differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in well-watered and stressed-treated plants, with 45071 and 42457 accounting for up-regulated and down-regulated DEGs, respectively. GO term, KEGG, and KOG analysis showed that DEGs were functionally enriched cellular processes, metabolic processes, cellular and catalytic activity, metabolism, genetic information processing, signal transduction mechanisms, and posttranslational modification pathways. Transcription factors (TF), such as the MYB, WRKY, NAC family, FAR1, B3, bHLH, and bZIP, were the prominent TF families identified as doum palm DEGs encoding drought stress tolerance.

This study provides a complete understanding of DEGs involved in drought stress at the transcriptome level in doum palms. This research is, therefore, the foundation for the characterization of potential genes, leading to a clear understanding of its drought stress responses and providing resources for improved genetic modification.