Drought sensitivity is considered as a major concern for chickpea (C. arietinum) seed production. Determination of drought adaptation mechanisms is an essential constituent of this crop breeding programs. With this purpose, the present research was conducted to distinguish the molecular basis of chickpea drought tolerance using cDNA-AFLP approach. The expression profile was compared between drought tolerant (ICCV2 and FLIP9855C) and susceptible lines (ILC3279) of chickpea under three drought treatments including well-watered, intermediate, and severe stress; where soil water content was kept at 85–90%, 55–60%, and 25–30% of Field capacity, respectively. Totally, 295 transcript-derived fragments (TDFs) were visualized. Among the differentially expressed TDFs, 72 TDFs were sequenced. Sequenced cDNAs were categorized in different functional groups involved in macromolecules metabolism, cellular transport, signal transduction, transcriptional regulation, cell division and energy production. Based on the results, ribosomal protein S8, mitochondrial chaperone, proteases, hydrolases, UDP -glucuronic acid decarboylase, 2-hydroxyisoflavanone dehydratase, NADPH dehydrogenase, chloride channels, calmodulin, ABC transporter, histone deacetylase and factors involved in chloroplast division were among genes that were affected by drought stress. Similarity search in data base showed that cell wall elasticity, isoflavonoids, maintenance of structure and function of proteins through increase in expression of mitochondrial chaperones, programed cell death, and remobilization of storage material from leaves to seeds were among mechanisms that distinguished differences between drought tolerant and drought susceptible lines.

Keywords: Drought Stress, cDNA- amplified fragments length polymorphism, Transcript derived fragments (TDFs), Gene expression

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