Comparative transcriptomic analysis identifies conserved abiotic stress-responsive hub genes in Sorghum bicolor

Sorghum bicolor is a climate-resilient cereal crop capable of adapting to diverse environmental stresses. Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying abiotic stress responses in sorghum is essential for improving crop resilience under changing climatic conditions. Integrative transcriptomic approaches using publicly available datasets provide an opportunity to identify conserved stress-responsive genes and regulatory networks associated with stress adaptation.

In this study, a comparative transcriptomic analysis was conducted by combining microarray (GSE48205) and RNA-seq (GSE140928) datasets representing different abiotic stress conditions in sorghum. Differential expression analysis identified 1,097 overlapping differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the datasets. Protein-protein interaction network construction revealed significant gene connectivity, and network topology analysis using MCODE and CytoHubba identified several highly connected genes. Among these, four candidate hub genes-Sobic.010G233800, Sobic.001G453300, Sobic.001G191000, and Sobic.004G231800-showed strong centrality within the network. Functional enrichment analysis indicated that these genes were primarily associated with biosynthetic processes, nitrogen compound metabolism, ribosome-related functions, and organelle-associated pathways. Additional transcription factor enrichment analysis predicted putative associations with stress-responsive regulatory families, suggesting their potential involvement in abiotic stress-responsive cellular processes.

This integrative analysis identified conserved candidate hub genes associated with abiotic stress responses in sorghum. The findings provide insights into the molecular networks involved in stress adaptation and highlight potential genetic targets for improving stress tolerance in sorghum. Although the present study is computational, the identified genes provide a foundation for future experimental validation and functional studies aimed at developing climate-resilient sorghum cultivars.