Find in Library

Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) plays an important regulatory role in plant growth and development, but its systematic identification and analysis in <i>Eucalyptus</i> has not yet been reported. Cold stress has a huge impact on the survival and yield of <i>Eucalyptus</i> seedlings, but the regulatory mechanism of lncRNA in <i>Eucalyptus</i> in response to cold stress is still unclear. In this study, the transcriptomes of young leaves of <i>Eucalyptus urophylla</i> S.T.Blake under low-temperature treatment and restoration were analyzed by RNA-seq. A total of 11,394 lncRNAs and 46,276 mRNAs were identified, of which 300 were differentially expressed lncRNAs (DE_lncRNAs) and 5606 were differentially expressed target genes of lncRNAs under cold stress, with the total number of target genes of DE_lncRNAs being 1681. A total of 677 differentially expressed transcription factors (TFs) were also identified, mainly including <i>ERF</i>, <i>MYB</i> and the <i>NAC</i> transcription factor family. Gene ontology (GO) analysis of the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and target genes of DE_lncRNAs was mostly related to the response to cold stress and external stimuli. Furthermore, lncRNA–miRNA–mRNA regulatory networks were constructed, and 22 DE_lncRNAs were predicted to be targets or targeting mimics of 20 miRNAs. A qRT-PCR was used to verify the relative expression of genes in the regulatory <i>EuGBF3</i>-<i>EUC_00002677</i>-<i>MSTRG.7690</i> network, and it matched the transcriptome data, indicating that it may play an important role in the response to cold stress in <i>E. urophylla</i>. This study provides a new insight into lncRNA and its regulatory network under abiotic stress, especially cold stress in <i>E. urophylla</i>.