Omics data-based identification of HSP70 gene family in C. sativa under drought stress

•16 HSP70 genes were identified in the Cannabis sativa genome.•CsHSP70 were classified into two subfamilies (DnaK and HSP110/SSE).•The orthologous relationships contributed to expansion of the CsHSP70 family.•It was determined that protein and CAT enzyme activities of C. sativa plants changed under drought stress.•The mRNA levels of CsHSP70 genes were analyzed for expression changes under drought stress. Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are crucial components in omics with an importance on many aspects of biology. Cannabis sativa (C. sativa) is an agriculturally important plant which serves a source of food, biofuel and medicine. But the lack of bioinformatics studies in C. sativa is an obstacle to the development of more qualified hemp varieties. For this reason, it is important to identify HSP proteins in C. sativa, to understand their role in the organism and to increase the number of studies in this context. In the current study, the identification of HSP70 proteins in C. sativa through bioinformatic analyses was performed for the first time. A total of 16 members of HSP70 family were identified and they were found to be classified into three subfamilies because of having variations in their motif pattern and exon-intron distribution. According to the cis-element analysis, CsHSP70 genes were found to include cis-elements which mostly play role in abiotic stress response. Two CsHSP70 gene pairs were found to be tandemly duplicated and these duplications were detected to underwent strong purifying selection. RNAseq analysis based on previously published SRA data (Sequence Read Archive) showed the upregulation of many CsHSP70 genes in response to drought and four of those which highly expressed were used for RT-qPCR experiments. CsHSP70-06, CsHSP70–08, CsHSP70-09 and CsHSP70-12 genes were found to be differentially expressed in response to drought stress conditions depending on exposure time (12 h and 24 h) and sampled tissue (leaf, stem and root). In conclusion, this study provides comprehensive data on the HSP70 gene family members found in C. sativa. We believe that the data obtained from this study, which also reveals its possible relationship with drought stress, can benefit researchers in this field.