scholarly journals Flavonoids improve drought tolerance of maize seedlings by regulating the homeostasis of reactive oxygen species

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baozhu Li ◽  
Ruonan Fan ◽  
Guiling Sun ◽  
Ting Sun ◽  
Yanting Fan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Free Radicals ◽  
Drought Stress ◽  
Drought Tolerance ◽  
Infrared Imaging ◽  
Oxygen Free Radicals ◽  
Transcriptome Profiling ◽  
Far Infrared ◽  
Drought Treatment ◽  
Physiological Characterization ◽  
Oxidative Damages

Abstract Background and aims As drought threatens the yield and quality of maize (Zea mays L.), it is important to dissect the molecular basis of maize drought tolerance. Flavonoids, participate in the scavenging of oxygen free radicals and alleviate stress-induced oxidative damages. This study aims to dissect the function of flavonoids in the improvement of maize drought tolerance. Methods Using far-infrared imaging screening, we previously isolated a drought overly insensitivity (doi) mutant from an ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS)-mutagenized maize library and designated it as doi57. In this study, we performed a physiological characterization and transcriptome profiling of doi57 in comparison to corresponding wild-type B73 under drought stress. Results Under drought stress, doi57 seedlings displayed lower leaf-surface temperature (LST), faster water loss, and better performance in growth than B73. Transcriptome analysis reveals that key genes involved in flavonoid biosynthesis are enriched among differentially expressed genes in doi57. In line with these results, more flavonols and less hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) were accumulated in guard cells of doi57 than in those of B73 with the decrease of soil water content (SWC). Moreover, the capacity determined from doi57 seedling extracts to scavenge oxygen free radicals was more effective than that of B73 under the drought treatment. Additionally, doi57 seedlings had higher photosynthetic rates, stomatal conductance, transpiration rates, and water use efficiency than B73 exposed to drought stress, resulting in high biomass and greater root/shoot ratios in doi57 mutant plants. Conclusion Flavonoids may facilitate maize seedling drought tolerance by lowering drought-induced oxidative damage as well regulating stomatal movement.

Far infrared imaging, an effective way to screen maize seedling mutants for drought stress response

Biologia ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 72 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Baozhu Li ◽  
Ruonan Fan ◽  
Shiquan Huang ◽  
Lei Peng ◽  
Jingxuan Guo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drought Tolerance ◽  
Infrared Imaging ◽  
Leaf Surface ◽  
Membrane Damage ◽  
Far Infrared ◽  
Leaf Temperature ◽  
Maize Seedling ◽  
Moisture Loss ◽  
Drought Treatment ◽  
Water Transpiration

AbstractWater shortage is a global challenge and affects crop growth and development seriously. Stoma is the main channel of plant water transpiration. Water transpiration through stomata is an endothermic process and affects temperature of plants, especially leaf surface. In this study, we established a method for screening maize seedling mutant with abnormal leaf temperature by far infrared imaging. We found that seedling mutants with abnormal leaf temperature manifested different drought tolerance. Mutants with lower leaf temperature demonstrated faster moisture loss rate, poorer drought tolerance, higher osmotic potential, lower leaf relative water content, more accumulation of hydrogen peroxide, more serious cell membrane damage and more robust root systems and biomass under drought treatment, which are opposite in maize seedling mutants with higher leaf surface temperature compared with the corresponding control. Taken together, the method we established is an effective way to screen maize mutants with abnormal drought response.

scholarly journals Comparing transcriptional responses to Fusarium crown rot in wheat and barley identified an important relationship between disease resistance and drought tolerance

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. Y. Su ◽  
J. J. Powell ◽  
S. Gao ◽  
M. Zhou ◽  
C. Liu
Keyword(s):  
Drought Stress ◽  
Drought Tolerance ◽  
Crown Rot ◽  
Differentially Expressed ◽  
Transcriptional Responses ◽  
Drought Treatment ◽  
Crop Species ◽  
Fusarium Crown Rot ◽  
Important Relationship ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background Fusarium crown rot (FCR) is a chronic disease in cereal production worldwide. The impact of this disease is highly environmentally dependant and significant yield losses occur mainly in drought-affected crops. Results In the study reported here, we evaluated possible relationships between genes conferring FCR resistance and drought tolerance using two approaches. The first approach studied FCR induced differentially expressed genes (DEGs) targeting two barley and one wheat loci against a panel of genes curated from the literature based on known functions in drought tolerance. Of the 149 curated genes, 61.0% were responsive to FCR infection across the three loci. The second approach was a comparison of the global DEGs induced by FCR infection with the global transcriptomic responses under drought in wheat. This analysis found that approximately 48.0% of the DEGs detected one week following drought treatment and 74.4% of the DEGs detected three weeks following drought treatment were also differentially expressed between the susceptible and resistant isolines under FCR infection at one or more timepoints. As for the results from the first approach, the vast majority of common DEGs were downregulated under drought and expressed more highly in the resistant isoline than the sensitive isoline under FCR infection. Conclusions Results from this study suggest that the resistant isoline in wheat was experiencing less drought stress, which could contribute to the stronger defence response than the sensitive isoline. However, most of the genes induced by drought stress in barley were more highly expressed in the susceptible isolines than the resistant isolines under infection, indicating that genes conferring drought tolerance and FCR resistance may interact differently between these two crop species. Nevertheless, the strong relationship between FCR resistance and drought responsiveness provides further evidence indicating the possibility to enhance FCR resistance by manipulating genes conferring drought tolerance.

scholarly journals Transcriptome analysis and molecular mechanism of linseed (Linum usitatissimum L.) drought tolerance under repeated drought using single-molecule long-read sequencing

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Wang ◽  
Lei Wang ◽  
Ling Wang ◽  
Meilian Tan ◽  
Collins O. Ogutu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drought Stress ◽  
Drought Tolerance ◽  
Single Molecule ◽  
Linum Usitatissimum ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Expression Patterns ◽  
Resistant Variety ◽  
Drought Treatment ◽  
Oil Crops ◽  
Drought Resistant

Abstract Background Oil flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) also as known as linseed is one of the most important oil crops in the world. Although linseed was reported to show better tolerance to abiotic stress conditions compared to other oil crops, the molecular mechanisms underlying linseed tolerance to drought stress are largely unknown. Moreover, as a result of climate change, drought dramatically reduces linseed yield and quality, but so far very little is known about how linseed coordinates the drought-resistant genes expression of response to different level of drought stress on the genome-wide level. Results To explore the transcriptional response of linseed to drought stress (DS) and repeated drought stress (RD), we first determined the drought tolerance of different linseed varieties. Then we performed full-length transcriptome sequencing of drought-resistant variety (Z141) and drought-sensitive variety (NY-17) using single-molecule real-time sequencing and RNA-sequencing under drought stress (DS) and repeated drought stress (RD) at the seedling stage. Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis showed that compared with NY-17, the up-regulated genes of Z141 were enriched in more functional pathways related to plant drought tolerance under drought stress. In addition, the number of up-regulated genes in linseed under RD was more 30% than it under DS. In addition, a total of, 4,436 linseed transcription factors were identified, of these, 1,190 genes were responsive to stress treatments. Finally, the expression patterns of proline biosynthesis and DNA repair structural genes were verified by RT- PCR. Conclusions Drought tolerance of Z141 may be related to its specifically up-regulated drought tolerance genes under drought stress. Several variable physiological responses occurred in repeated than in sustained drought treatment. Sum up, this study provides a new perspective to understand the drought adaptability of linseed.

scholarly journals Bermudagrass Drought Tolerance Associated with Dehydrin Protein Expression during Drought Stress

2013 ◽  
Vol 138 (4) ◽  
pp. 277-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kemin Su ◽  
Justin Q. Moss ◽  
Guolong Zhang ◽  
Dennis L. Martin ◽  
Yanqi Wu
Keyword(s):  
Drought Stress ◽  
Drought Tolerance ◽  
Drought Resistance ◽  
Genotypic Variation ◽  
Warm Season ◽  
Resistant Cultivar ◽  
Limiting Factor ◽  
Physiological Changes ◽  
Drought Treatment ◽  
Drought Resistant

Drought stress is a major limiting factor for warm-season turfgrass growth during the summer in the U.S. transition zone. Genotypic variation in drought resistance exists among bermudagrasses (Cynodon sp.), but the mechanisms of drought resistance are poorly understood. Our objectives were to investigate physiological changes in three bermudagrass cultivars under a well-watered condition and drought stress. to determine expression differences in soluble protein and dehydrin of the three cultivars under well-watered and drought stress conditions, and to identify the association between dehydrin proteins and drought tolerance. Grasses included a high drought-resistant cultivar, Celebration, a low drought-resistant cultivar, Premier, and a newly released cultivar, Latitude 36. In both well-watered and drought treatments, ‘Latitude 36’ had the highest visual quality and lower or medium electrolyte leakage among three cultivars. In the drought treatment, 16- and 23-kDa dehydrin proteins were observed in ‘Latitude 36’ but not in ‘Celebration’ or ‘Premier’. Our results indicate that the 16- and 23-kDa dehydrin expressions could be associated with drought tolerance and contribute to drought tolerance in bermudagrass.

scholarly journals Changes in Carbon Partitioning and Accumulation Patterns during Drought and Recovery for Colonial Bentgrass, Creeping Bentgrass, and Velvet Bentgrass

2006 ◽  
Vol 131 (4) ◽  
pp. 484-490 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle DaCosta ◽  
Bingru Huang
Keyword(s):  
Drought Stress ◽  
Drought Tolerance ◽  
Water Status ◽  
Creeping Bentgrass ◽  
Carbon Partitioning ◽  
Perennial Grasses ◽  
Species Variation ◽  
Carbohydrate Accumulation ◽  
Drought Treatment ◽  
Drought Duration

Efficient carbon distribution and utilization may enhance drought survival and recovery ability for perennial grasses. The objectives of this study were to examine changes in carbon partitioning and carbohydrate accumulation patterns in shoots and roots of colonial bentgrass (Agrostis capillaris L.), creeping bentgrass (A. stolonifera L.), and velvet bentgrass (A. canina L.) in response to drought and re-watering following drought, and to determine whether species variation in drought tolerance and recuperative potential is related to differences in the patterns of carbon partitioning and accumulation. The experiment consisted of three treatments: 1) well-watered control; 2) drought, irrigation completely withheld for 18 days; and 3) drought recovery, a group of drought-stressed plants were re-watered at the end of the drought treatment (18 days). Drought tolerance and recuperative ability of three species was evaluated by measuring turf quality and leaf relative water content. These parameters indicated that velvet bentgrass was most drought tolerant while colonial bentgrass had highest recuperative ability among the three species. Plants were labeled with 14CO2 to determine carbon partitioning to shoots and roots. Carbohydrate accumulation was assessed by total nonstructural carbohydrate (TNC) content. The proportion of newly photosynthesized 14C partitioned to roots increased at 12 days of drought compared to the pre-stress level, to a greater extent for velvet bentgrass (45%) than for colonial bentgrass (35%) and creeping bentgrass (30%). In general, the proportion of 14C was highest in roots, intermediate in stems, and lowest in leaves at 12 days of drought treatment for all three bentgrass species. As drought duration and severity increased (18 days), 14C partitioning increased more in leaves and stems relative to that in roots for all three species. Stem TNC content was significantly greater for drought-stressed plants of colonial bentgrass and velvet bentgrass compared to their respective well-watered control plants, whereas no differences in stem TNC content were observed between drought-stressed and well-watered creeping bentgrass. Our results suggest that increased carbon partitioning to roots during initial drought stress represented an adaptive response of bentgrass species to short-term drought stress, and increased carbon partitioning and carbohydrate accumulation in stems during prolonged period of drought stress could be beneficial for rapid recovery of turf growth and water status upon re-watering.

scholarly journals Proteins Involved in Energy Metabolism and Oxidative Regulation Associated with Genotypic Variations in Drought Tolerance for Tall Fescue

2018 ◽  
Vol 143 (3) ◽  
pp. 207-212
Author(s):  
Jianming Sun ◽  
Yiming Liu ◽  
Xianglin Li ◽  
Bingru Huang
Keyword(s):  
Drought Stress ◽  
Drought Tolerance ◽  
Tall Fescue ◽  
Photochemical Efficiency ◽  
Grass Species ◽  
Drought Treatment ◽  
Drought Tolerant ◽  
Oxidative Regulation ◽  
Tolerant Genotype ◽  
Adaptation To Drought

Protein metabolism plays an important role in plant adaptation to drought stress. The objective of this study was to identify drought-responsive proteins associated with differential drought tolerance for a tolerant genotype (RU9) and a sensitive genotype (RU18) of tall fescue (Lolium arundinacea). Plants of both genotypes were grown under well-watered conditions or subjected to drought stress by withholding irrigation for 12 days in a growth chamber controlled at the optimal growth temperatures of 23/18 °C (day/night). Physiological analysis demonstrated that RU9 was relatively more drought tolerant than RU18, as shown by the higher leaf net photosynthetic rate (Pn) and photochemical efficiency at 12 days of drought treatment. Differentially expressed proteins between RU9 and RU18 exposed to drought stress were identified by two-dimensional electrophoresis and mass spectrometry (MS). Several proteins [photosystem I reaction center subunit II, Rubisco small subunit, and Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GADPH)] in photosynthesis, respiration, or oxidative regulation exhibited higher abundance in RU9 than RU18 under drought stress. These results suggested the critical importance of energy and oxidative metabolism in tall fescue adaptation to drought stress. Those abundant proteins in the drought-tolerant genotype could be used as biomarkers or developed to molecular markers to develop elite drought-tolerant germplasm in tall fescue and other cool-season perennial grass species.

scholarly journals Comparative Transcriptome Analysis of Two Aegilops tauschii with Contrasting Drought Tolerance by RNA-Seq

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (10) ◽  
pp. 3595
Author(s):  
Xinpeng Zhao ◽  
Shenglong Bai ◽  
Lechen Li ◽  
Xue Han ◽  
Jiahui Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drought Stress ◽  
Drought Tolerance ◽  
Common Wheat ◽  
Carbon Fixation ◽  
Aegilops Tauschii ◽  
Transcriptome Profiling ◽  
Mapk Signaling ◽  
Mitogen Activated Protein Kinase ◽  
Rna Seq ◽  
Alpha Linolenic Acid

As the diploid progenitor of common wheat, Aegilops tauschii is considered to be a valuable resistance source to various biotic and abiotic stresses. However, little has been reported concerning the molecular mechanism of drought tolerance in Ae. tauschii. In this work, the drought tolerance of 155 Ae. tauschii accessions was firstly screened on the basis of their coleoptile lengths under simulated drought stress. Subsequently, two accessions (XJ002 and XJ098) with contrasting coleoptile lengths were selected and intensively analyzed on rate of water loss (RWL) as well as physiological characters, confirming the difference in drought tolerance at the seedling stage. Further, RNA-seq was utilized for global transcriptome profiling of the two accessions seedling leaves under drought stress conditions. A total of 6969 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) associated with drought tolerance were identified, and their functional annotations demonstrated that the stress response was mediated by pathways involving alpha-linolenic acid metabolism, starch and sucrose metabolism, peroxisome, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling, carbon fixation in photosynthetic organisms, and glycerophospholipid metabolism. In addition, DEGs with obvious differences between the two accessions were intensively analyzed, indicating that the expression level of DEGs was basically in alignment with the physiological changes of Ae. tauschii under drought stress. The results not only shed fundamental light on the regulatory process of drought tolerance in Ae. tauschii, but also provide a new gene resource for improving the drought tolerance of common wheat.

Overexpression of HvAKT1 improves drought tolerance in barley by regulating root ion homeostasis and ROS and NO signaling

2020 ◽  
Vol 71 (20) ◽  
pp. 6587-6600
Author(s):  
Xue Feng ◽  
Wenxing Liu ◽  
Fangbin Cao ◽  
Yizhou Wang ◽  
Guoping Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drought Stress ◽  
Drought Tolerance ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Ion Homeostasis ◽  
Enzyme Activation ◽  
K Channel ◽  
H2o2 Production ◽  
Virus Induced Gene Silencing ◽  
K Uptake ◽  
Drought Treatment

Abstract Potassium (K+) is the major cationic inorganic nutrient utilized for osmotic regulation, cell growth, and enzyme activation in plants. Inwardly rectifying K+ channel 1 (AKT1) is the primary channel for root K+ uptake in plants, but the function of HvAKT1 in barley plants under drought stress has not been fully elucidated. In this study, we conducted evolutionary bioinformatics, biotechnological, electrophysiological, and biochemical assays to explore molecular mechanisms of HvAKT1 in response to drought in barley. The expression of HvAKT1 was significantly up-regulated by drought stress in the roots of XZ5—a drought-tolerant wild barley genotype. We isolated and functionally characterized the plasma membrane-localized HvAKT1 using Agrobacterium-mediated plant transformation and Barley stripe mosaic virus-induced gene silencing of HvAKT1 in barley. Evolutionary bioinformatics indicated that the K+ selective filter in AKT1 originated from streptophyte algae and is evolutionarily conserved in land plants. Silencing of HvAKT1 resulted in significantly decreased biomass and suppressed K+ uptake in root epidermal cells under drought treatment. Disruption of HvAKT1 decreased root H+ efflux, H+-ATPase activity, and nitric oxide (NO) synthesis, but increased hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) production in the roots under drought stress. Furthermore, we observed that overexpression of HvAKT1 improves K+ uptake and increases drought resistance in barley. Our results highlight the importance of HvAKT1 for root K+ uptake and its pleiotropic effects on root H+-ATPase, and H2O2 and NO in response to drought stress, providing new insights into the genetic basis of drought tolerance and K+ nutrition in barley.

scholarly journals Transcriptome profiling reveals the effects of drought tolerance in Giant Juncao

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Zhou ◽  
Siqi Chen ◽  
Wenjiao Shi ◽  
Rakefet David-Schwartz ◽  
Sutao Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drought Stress ◽  
Drought Tolerance ◽  
Leucine Zipper ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Normal Growth ◽  
Transcriptome Profiling ◽  
Fatty Acyl ◽  
Transferase Activity ◽  
Forage Production ◽  
Basic Leucine Zipper

Abstract Background Giant Juncao is often used as feed for livestock because of its huge biomass. However, drought stress reduces forage production by affecting the normal growth and development of plants. Therefore, investigating the molecular mechanisms of drought tolerance will provide important information for the improvement of drought tolerance in this grass. Results A total of 144.96 Gb of clean data was generated and assembled into 144,806 transcripts and 93,907 unigenes. After 7 and 14 days of drought stress, a total of 16,726 and 46,492 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were observed, respectively. Compared with normal irrigation, 16,247, 23,503, and 11,598 DEGs were observed in 1, 5, and 9 days following rehydration, respectively. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analyses revealed abiotic stress-responsive genes and pathways related to catalytic activity, methyltransferase activity, transferase activity, and superoxide metabolic process. We also identified transcription factors belonging to several families, including basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH), WRKY, NAM (no apical meristem), ATAF1/2 and CUC2 (cup-shaped cotyledon) (NAC), fatty acyl-CoA reductase (FAR1), B3, myeloblastosis (MYB)-related, and basic leucine zipper (bZIP) families, which are important drought-rehydration-responsive proteins. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis was also used to analyze the RNA-seq data to predict the interrelationship between genes. Twenty modules were obtained, and four of these modules may be involved in photosynthesis and plant hormone signal transduction that respond to drought and rehydration conditions. Conclusions Our research is the first to provide a more comprehensive understanding of DEGs involved in drought stress at the transcriptome level in Giant Juncao with different drought and recovery conditions. These results may reveal insights into the molecular mechanisms of drought tolerance in Giant Juncao and provide diverse genetic resources involved in drought tolerance research.

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