Thioredoxins as hormone-responsive redox regulators in wheat: transcriptomic and structural insights
- 1Department of Biology, Sultan Qaboos University
- 2School of Life Sciences, University of Essex
Abstract
Thioredoxins (TRXs) are small central redox proteins involved in stress responses and plant development, but their hormone-dependent regulation remains poorly characterized. In this study, a genome-wide identification of the TRX family in Triticum aestivum (Ta) was performed using Arabidopsis thaliana TRXs as orthologs. Phylogenetic analysis allowed the identification of a total of 48 TRXs, including 22 typical TRXs, 22 atypical TRXs, and four thioredoxin reductases (TRs). The identified classes in wheat were conserved compared with the Arabidopsis genome; however, no extra classes were identified. To assess the regulation of the wheat TRX genes under hormonal treatments, including abscisic acid (ABA), ethylene (ET), indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), and methyl jasmonate (MeJA), an in silico analysis was performed using the GEO dataset. The transcriptomic analysis and the quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) validation revealed that the atypical TRXs were more responsive to hormones than the typical TRXs and TRs . Among these atypical TRX members, atypical cysteine/histidine rich thioredoxin (ACHT), chloroplast drought stress protein of 32 kDa (CDSP32), nucleoredoxin (NRX), and TRX-L3 groups were the most hormone-responsive. ABA strongly upregulated the TaACHT4.2 gene, whereas TaNRX1.1 responded to IAA and ET. On the other hand, ABA, IAA, ET, and MeJA downregulated TaCDSP32.1 , TaNRX1.2 , TaNRX1.3 , and ACHT members. The molecular docking analysis suggested a potential interaction between the selected atypical TRXs and ABA, IAA, and MeJA. The multidomain TRXs, such as TaCDSP32.1 and TaNRX1.1, showed a high affinity for ABA and IAA, whereas TaTRX-L3.1.3 showed a high affinity for MeJA. This study highlights the importance and potential functions of poorly characterized atypical TRXs as hormone-responsive redox regulatory nodes in wheat and provides a basis for future functional validation under hormonal and stress conditions, as well as during plant development.
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BibTeX
@article{bouzenita2026thioredoxins,
title = {{Thioredoxins as hormone-responsive redox regulators in wheat: transcriptomic and structural insights}},
author = {Mohammed Hashim Bouzenita and Rana Adnan Tahir and Mengjie Fan and Aisha Shabib Estanbooli and Kamel Chibani},
journal = {Frontiers in Plant Science},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3389/fpls.2026.1911123},
url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2026.1911123/full},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Thioredoxins as hormone-responsive redox regulators in wheat: transcriptomic and structural insights
AU - Mohammed Hashim Bouzenita
AU - Rana Adnan Tahir
AU - Mengjie Fan
AU - Aisha Shabib Estanbooli
AU - Kamel Chibani
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/08
JO - Frontiers in Plant Science
DO - 10.3389/fpls.2026.1911123
UR - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2026.1911123/full
AB - Thioredoxins (TRXs) are small central redox proteins involved in stress responses and plant development, but their hormone-dependent regulation remains poorly characterized. In this study, a genome-wide identification of the TRX family in Triticum aestivum (Ta) was performed using Arabidopsis thaliana TRXs as orthologs. Phylogenetic analysis allowed the identification of a total of 48 TRXs, including 22 typical TRXs, 22 atypical TRXs, and four thioredoxin reductases (TRs). The identified classes in wheat were conserved compared with the Arabidopsis genome; however, no extra classes were identified. To assess the regulation of the wheat TRX genes under hormonal treatments, including abscisic acid (ABA), ethylene (ET), indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), and methyl jasmonate (MeJA), an in silico analysis was performed using the GEO dataset. The transcriptomic analysis and the quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) validation revealed that the atypical TRXs were more responsive to hormones than the typical TRXs and TRs . Among these atypical TRX members, atypical cysteine/histidine rich thioredoxin (ACHT), chloroplast drought stress protein of 32 kDa (CDSP32), nucleoredoxin (NRX), and TRX-L3 groups were the most hormone-responsive. ABA strongly upregulated the TaACHT4.2 gene, whereas TaNRX1.1 responded to IAA and ET. On the other hand, ABA, IAA, ET, and MeJA downregulated TaCDSP32.1 , TaNRX1.2 , TaNRX1.3 , and ACHT members. The molecular docking analysis suggested a potential interaction between the selected atypical TRXs and ABA, IAA, and MeJA. The multidomain TRXs, such as TaCDSP32.1 and TaNRX1.1, showed a high affinity for ABA and IAA, whereas TaTRX-L3.1.3 showed a high affinity for MeJA. This study highlights the importance and potential functions of poorly characterized atypical TRXs as hormone-responsive redox regulatory nodes in wheat and provides a basis for future functional validation under hormonal and stress conditions, as well as during plant development.
SN - 1664-462X
ER -