Desert plant transcriptomics and adaptation to abiotic stress

Desert plants are subjected to hostile and changing environmental conditions such as little water availability, high salinity, high radiation, and nutrient-poor soils being difficult for these species to grow and develop. In this sense, plants have developed specialized strategies to survive and adapt to those severe conditions. As a result, desert plants have become an important genetic source of information for understanding plant responses to abiotic stress. Transcriptomics has influenced plant biology research since it allows for the assessment of genome-wide RNA expression levels. Even in the absence of a reference genome, RNA-Seq has shown to be a powerful method for analyzing transcriptomes in plants, mainly for desert plants since the information available from this approach is scarce for these species. This chapter focuses on desert plant responses to abiotic stress, such as drought, salinity, oxidative stress, and extreme temperatures, as well as the main and recent advancements in desert plant transcriptomics research. In addition, we proposed a methodological guide for in silico identification and functional analysis of long noncoding RNAs in desert plants under abiotic stress. Finally, we explored the future directions of desert plant transcriptomics and the potential biotechnological applications obtained using this approach.