scholarly journals Amplification of early drought responses caused by volatile cues emitted from neighboring plants

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jieyang Jin ◽  
Mingyue Zhao ◽  
Ting Gao ◽  
Tingting Jing ◽  
Na Zhang ◽  
...  

AbstractPlants have developed sophisticated mechanisms to survive in dynamic environments. Plants can communicate via volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to warn neighboring plants of threats. In most cases, VOCs act as positive regulators of plant defense. However, the communication and role of volatiles in response to drought stress are poorly understood. Here, we showed that tea plants release numerous VOCs. Among them, methyl salicylate (MeSA), benzyl alcohol, and phenethyl alcohol markedly increased under drought stress. Interestingly, further experiments revealed that drought-induced MeSA lowered the abscisic acid (ABA) content in neighboring plants by reducing 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase (NCED) gene expression, resulting in inhibition of stomatal closure and ultimately decreasing early drought tolerance in neighboring plants. Exogenous application of ABA reduced the wilting of tea plants caused by MeSA exposure. Exposure of Nicotiana benthamiana to MeSA also led to severe wilting, indicating that the ability of drought-induced MeSA to reduce early drought tolerance in neighboring plants may be conserved in other plant species. Taken together, these results provide evidence that drought-induced volatiles can reduce early drought tolerance in neighboring plants and lay a novel theoretical foundation for optimizing plant density and spacing.

Cells ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 261
Author(s):  
Md. Mahadi Hasan ◽  
Milan Skalicky ◽  
Mohammad Shah Jahan ◽  
Md. Nazmul Hossain ◽  
Zunaira Anwar ◽  
...  

In recent years, research on spermine (Spm) has turned up a lot of new information about this essential polyamine, especially as it is able to counteract damage from abiotic stresses. Spm has been shown to protect plants from a variety of environmental insults, but whether it can prevent the adverse effects of drought has not yet been reported. Drought stress increases endogenous Spm in plants and exogenous application of Spm improves the plants’ ability to tolerate drought stress. Spm’s role in enhancing antioxidant defense mechanisms, glyoxalase systems, methylglyoxal (MG) detoxification, and creating tolerance for drought-induced oxidative stress is well documented in plants. However, the influences of enzyme activity and osmoregulation on Spm biosynthesis and metabolism are variable. Spm interacts with other molecules like nitric oxide (NO) and phytohormones such as abscisic acid, salicylic acid, brassinosteroids, and ethylene, to coordinate the reactions necessary for developing drought tolerance. This review focuses on the role of Spm in plants under severe drought stress. We have proposed models to explain how Spm interacts with existing defense mechanisms in plants to improve drought tolerance.


Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 2374
Author(s):  
Marium Khatun ◽  
Sumi Sarkar ◽  
Farzana Mustafa Era ◽  
A. K. M. Mominul Islam ◽  
Md. Parvez Anwar ◽  
...  

Grain legumes are important sources of proteins, essential micronutrients and vitamins and for human nutrition. Climate change, including drought, is a severe threat to grain legume production throughout the world. In this review, the morpho-physiological, physio-biochemical and molecular levels of drought stress in legumes are described. Moreover, different tolerance mechanisms, such as the morphological, physio-biochemical and molecular mechanisms of legumes, are also reviewed. Moreover, various management approaches for mitigating the drought stress effects in grain legumes are assessed. Reduced leaf area, shoot and root growth, chlorophyll content, stomatal conductance, CO2 influx, nutrient uptake and translocation, and water-use efficiency (WUE) ultimately affect legume yields. The yield loss of grain legumes varies from species to species, even variety to variety within a species, depending upon the severity of drought stress and several other factors, such as phenology, soil textures and agro-climatic conditions. Closure of stomata leads to an increase in leaf temperature by reducing the transpiration rate, and, so, the legume plant faces another stress under drought stress. The biosynthesis of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is the most detrimental effect of drought stress. Legumes can adapt to the drought stress by changing their morphology, physiology and molecular mechanism. Improved root system architecture (RSA), reduced number and size of leaves, stress-induced phytohormone, stomatal closure, antioxidant defense system, solute accumulation (e.g., proline) and altered gene expression play a crucial role in drought tolerance. Several agronomic, breeding both conventional and molecular, biotechnological approaches are used as management practices for developing a drought-tolerant legume without affecting crop yield. Exogenous application of plant-growth regulators (PGRs), osmoprotectants and inoculation by Rhizobacteria and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi promotes drought tolerance in legumes. Genome-wide association studies (GWASs), genomic selection (GS), marker-assisted selection (MAS), OMICS-based technology and CRISPR/Cas9 make the breeding work easy and save time in the developmental cycle to get resistant legumes. Several drought-resistant grain legumes, such as the chickpea, faba bean, common bean and pigeon pea, were developed by different institutions. Drought-tolerant transgenic legumes, for example, chickpeas, are developed by introgressing desired genes through breeding and biotechnological approaches. Several quantitative trait loci (QTLs), candidate genes occupying drought-tolerant traits, are identified from a variety of grain legumes, but not all are under proper implementation. Hence, more research should be conducted to improve the drought-tolerant traits of grain legumes for avoiding losses during drought.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weiwei Gao ◽  
Mingkang Li ◽  
Songguang Yang ◽  
Chunzhi Gao ◽  
Yan Su ◽  
...  

AbstractInduced abscisic acid (ABA) biosynthesis plays an important role in plant tolerance to abiotic stresses, including drought, cold and salinity. However, regulation pathway of the ABA biosynthesis in response to stresses is unclear. Here, we identified a rice miRNA, osa-miR2105 (miR2105), which plays a crucial role in ABA biosynthesis under drought stress. Analysis of expression, transgenic rice and cleavage site showed that OsbZIP86 is a target gene of miR2105. Subcellular localization and luciferase activity assays showed that OsbZIP86 is a nuclear transcription factor. In vivo and in vitro analyses showed that OsbZIP86 directly binds to the promoter of OsNCED3, and interacts with OsSAPK10, resulting in enhanced-expression of OsNCED3. Transgenic rice plants with knock-down of miR2105 or overexpression of OsbZIP86 showed higher ABA content, more tolerance to drought, a lower rate of water loss, more stomatal closure than wild type rice ZH11 under drought stress. These rice plants showed no penalty with respect to agronomic traits under normal conditions. By contrast, transgenic rice plants with miR2105 overexpression, OsbZIP86 downregulation, or OsbZIP86 knockout displayed less tolerance to drought stress and other phenotypes. Collectively, our results show that a regulatory network of ‘miR2105-OsSAPK10/OsbZIP86-OsNCED3’ control ABA biosynthesis in response to drought stress.One-sentence summary‘miR2105-OsbZIP86-OsNCED3’ module plays crucial role in mediating ABA biosynthesis to contribute to drought tolerance with no penalty with respect to agronomic traits under normal conditions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 71 (14) ◽  
pp. 4285-4297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qingfang Lin ◽  
Song Wang ◽  
Yihang Dao ◽  
Jianyong Wang ◽  
Kai Wang

Abstract Transpiration occurs through stomata. The alteration of stomatal apertures in response to drought stress is an important process associated with water use efficiency (WUE). Trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatase (TPP) family genes have been reported to participate in adjustment of stomatal aperture. However, there have been no reports of the trehalose metabolism pathway genes improving WUE, and the upstream signalling pathway modulating these genes is not clear. Here, we demonstrate that a member of the TPP gene family, AtTPPI, confers drought resistance and improves WUE by decreasing stomatal apertures and improving root architecture. The reduced expression of AtTPPI caused a drought-sensitive phenotype, while its overexpression significantly increased drought tolerance. Abscisic acid (ABA)-induced stomatal closure experiments confirmed that AtTPPI mutation increased the stomatal aperture compared with that of wild-type plants; in contrast, overexpression plants had smaller stomatal apertures than those of wild-type plants. Moreover, AtTPPI mutation also caused stunted primary root length and compromised auxin transport, while overexpression plants had longer primary root lengths. Yeast one-hybrid assays showed that ABA-responsive element-binding factor1 (ABF1), ABF2, and ABF4 directly regulated AtTPPI expression. In summary, the way in which AtTPPI responds to drought stress suggests that AtTPPI-mediated stomatal regulation is an important mechanism to cope with drought stress and improve WUE.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (21) ◽  
pp. 8876
Author(s):  
Noshin Ilyas ◽  
Komal Mumtaz ◽  
Nosheen Akhtar ◽  
Humaira Yasmin ◽  
R. Z. Sayyed ◽  
...  

This research was designed to elucidate the role of exopolysaccharides (EPS) producing bacterial strains for the amelioration of drought stress in wheat. Bacterial strains were isolated from a farmer’s field in the arid region of Pakistan. Out of 24 isolated stains, two bacterial strains, Bacillus subtilis (Accession No. MT742976) and Azospirillum brasilense (Accession No. MT742977) were selected, based on their ability to produce EPS and withstand drought stress. Both bacterial strains produced a good amount of EPS and osmolytes and exhibited drought tolerance individually, however, a combination of these strains produced higher amounts of EPS (sugar 6976 µg/g, 731.5 µg/g protein, and 1.1 mg/g uronic acid) and osmolytes (proline 4.4 µg/mg and sugar 79 µg/mg) and significantly changed the level of stress-induced phytohormones (61%, 49% and 30% decrease in Indole Acetic Acid (IAA), Gibberellic Acid (GA), and Cytokinin (CK)) respectively under stress, but an increase of 27.3% in Abscisic acid (ABA) concentration was observed. When inoculated, the combination of these strains improved seed germination, seedling vigor index, and promptness index by 18.2%, 23.7%, and 61.5% respectively under osmotic stress (20% polyethylene glycol, PEG6000). They also promoted plant growth in a pot experiment with an increase of 42.9%, 29.8%, and 33.7% in shoot length, root length, and leaf area, respectively. Physiological attributes of plants were also improved by bacterial inoculation showing an increase of 39.8%, 61.5%, and 45% in chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, and carotenoid content respectively, as compared to control. Inoculations of bacterial strains also increased the production of osmolytes such asproline, amino acid, sugar, and protein by 30%, 23%, 68%, and 21.7% respectively. Co-inoculation of these strains enhanced the production of antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD) by 35.1%, catalase (CAT) by 77.4%, and peroxidase (POD) by 40.7%. Findings of the present research demonstrated that EPS, osmolyte, stress hormones, and antioxidant enzyme-producing bacterial strains impart drought tolerance in wheat and improve its growth, morphological attributes, physiological parameters, osmolytes production, and increase antioxidant enzymes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (9) ◽  
pp. 3335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoshu Jing ◽  
Jun Yao ◽  
Xujun Ma ◽  
Yanli Zhang ◽  
Yuanling Sun ◽  
...  

Water deficit caused by osmotic stress and drought limits crop yield and tree growth worldwide. Screening and identifying candidate genes from stress-resistant species are a genetic engineering strategy to increase drought resistance. In this study, an increased concentration of mannitol resulted in elevated expression of thioredoxin f (KcTrxf) in the nonsecretor mangrove species Kandelia candel. By means of amino acid sequence and phylogenetic analysis, the mangrove Trx was classified as an f-type thioredoxin. Subcellular localization showed that KcTrxf localizes to chloroplasts. Enzymatic activity characterization revealed that KcTrxf recombinant protein possesses the disulfide reductase function. KcTrxf overexpression contributes to osmotic and drought tolerance in tobacco in terms of fresh weight, root length, malondialdehyde (MDA) content, and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) production. KcTrxf was shown to reduce the stomatal aperture by enhancing K+ efflux in guard cells, which increased the water-retaining capacity in leaves under drought conditions. Notably, the abscisic acid (ABA) sensitivity was increased in KcTrxf-transgenic tobacco, which benefits plants exposed to drought by reducing water loss by promoting stomatal closure. KcTrxf-transgenic plants limited drought-induced H2O2 in leaves, which could reduce lipid peroxidation and retain the membrane integrity. Additionally, glutathione (GSH) contributing to reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging and transgenic plants are more efficient at regenerating GSH from oxidized glutathione (GSSG) under conditions of drought stress. Notably, KcTrxf-transgenic plants had increased glucose and fructose contents under drought stress conditions, presumably resulting from KcTrxf-promoted starch degradation under water stress. We conclude that KcTrxf contributes to drought tolerance by increasing the water status, by enhancing osmotic adjustment, and by maintaining ROS homeostasis in transgene plants.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 898
Author(s):  
Muhammad Sajjad ◽  
Xi Wei ◽  
Lisen Liu ◽  
Fuguang Li ◽  
Xiaoyang Ge

Cotton is a paramount cash crop around the globe. Among all abiotic stresses, drought is a leading cause of cotton growth and yield loss. However, the molecular link between drought stress and vascular growth and development is relatively uncharted. Here, we validated a crucial role of GhWOX4, a transcription factor, modulating drought stress with that of vasculature growth in cotton. Knock-down of GhWOX4 decreased the stem width and severely compromised vascular growth and drought tolerance. Conversely, ectopic expression of GhWOX4 in Arabidopsis enhanced the tolerance to drought stress. Comparative RNAseq analysis revealed auxin responsive protein (AUX/IAA), abscisic acid (ABA), and ethylene were significantly induced. Additionally, MYC-bHLH, WRKY, MYB, homeodomain, and heat-shock transcription factors (HSF) were differentially expressed in control plants as compared to GhWOX4-silenced plants. The promotor zone of GhWOX4 was found congested with plant growth, light, and stress response related cis-elements. differentially expressed genes (DEGs) related to stress, water deprivation, and desiccation response were repressed in drought treated GhWOX4-virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) plants as compared to control. Gene ontology (GO) functions related to cell proliferation, light response, fluid transport, and flavonoid biosynthesis were over-induced in TRV: 156-0 h/TRV: 156-1 h (control) in comparison to TRV: VIGS-0 h/TRV: VIGS-1 h (GhWOX4-silenced) plants. This study improves our context for elucidating the pivotal role of GhWOX4 transcription factors (TF), which mediates drought tolerance, plays a decisive role in plant growth and development, and is likely involved in different regulatory pathways in cotton.


2005 ◽  
Vol 56 (11) ◽  
pp. 1245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fulai Liu ◽  
Christian R. Jensen ◽  
Mathias N. Andersen

This review discusses the role of abscisic acid (ABA)-based drought stress chemical signalling in regulating crop vegetative and reproductive development and its contributions to crop drought adaptation. Increased concentrations of ABA in the root induced by soil drying may maintain root growth and increase root hydraulic conductivity; both lead to an increase in water uptake and thereby postpone the development of water deficit in the shoot. Root ABA is also transported in the xylem to the shoot and is perceived at the acting sites, where it causes stomatal closure and reduced leaf expansion, thereby preventing dehydration of leaf tissues and enhancing the chance for survival under prolonged drought. ABA-based chemical signalling can be amplified by several factors, particularly increased pH in the xylem/apoplast, which retains anionic ABA. Such an increase in xylem pH detected in field-grown maize might have been brought about by reduced nitrate uptake by plants during soil drying. In contrast, xylem sap alkalinisation was not found in soybeans, which depend on fixing nitrogen through their association with Rhizobium japonicum. Evidence has also shown that the xylem-borne ABA can be transported to plant reproductive structures and influence their development, presumably by regulating gene expression that controls cell division and carbohydrate metabolic enzyme activity under drought conditions. The possible involvement of ABA in the up- and down-regulation of acid invertase in crop source (adult leaves) v. sink (young ovaries) organs indicates a crucial role of the hormone in balancing source and sink relationship in plants according to the availability of water in the soil. A novel irrigation technique named partial root-zone drying (PRD), has been developed to allow exploitation of ABA-based drought stress signalling to improve water-use efficiency (WUE) based on its roles in regulating stomatal aperture and leaf expansion. However, little is known about how crop reproductive development is regulated when irrigated under PRD. We suggest that more attention should be paid to the latter aspect as it directly relates to crop yield and quality.


2012 ◽  
Vol 58 (No. 4) ◽  
pp. 181-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Bano ◽  
F. Ullah ◽  
A. Nosheen

The effect of drought stress and abscisic acid (ABA) applied at tillering stage (55 days after sowing) was compared in 2 wheat cultivars differing in drought tolerance. The activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) and contents of endogenous ABA in plants were measured at 3 days of drought stress in cv. Chakwal-97 (drought tolerant) and cv. Punjab-96 (drought susceptible). ABA was applied at 10<sup>&ndash;6</sup> mol/L as presowing seed treatment for 18 h. Drought tolerant cultivar has a more efficient mechanism to scavenge reactive oxygen species as shown by a significant increase in the activity of antioxidant enzyme SOD. Under drought stress, ABA significantly increased the activities of SOD and POD, showing a significant decline on rewatering. The relative water content was significantly increased by ABA priming under drought stress in both wheat cultivars. The sensitive cultivar exhibiting lower endogenous ABA content was more responsive to ABA priming. On rewatering, the magnitude of recovery from drought stress was greater in tolerant cultivar. ABA was highly effective in improving grain weight of tolerant cultivar under drought stress. &nbsp;


2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 398 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xianchen Zhang ◽  
Honghong Wu ◽  
Jingguang Chen ◽  
Linmu Chen ◽  
Xiaochun Wan

Drought is one of the main limiting factors affecting tea plant yield and quality. Previous studies have reported that K+ (potassium) application significantly alleviated drought-induced damage in tea plants. However, the intrinsic mechanisms underlying K+-alleviated drought stress are still obscure. In our study, two contrasting varieties, Taicha12 (drought tolerant) and Fuyun6 (drought sensitive), were used to investigate the intrinsic mechanisms behind K+-alleviated drought stress in tea plants. In the present study, we compared with the case of tea plants under drought: higher water and chlorophyll contents were found in drought-stressed tea plants with an external K+ supply, confirming the role of externally supplied K+ in mitigating drought stress. We also found that an adequate K+ supply promoted Cl– accumulation in the mesophyll of Taicha12 (drought tolerant) over that of in Fuyun6 (drought sensitive). Moreover, Gly, Cys, Lys and Arg were not detected in Fuyun6 under ‘Drought’ or ‘Drought + K+’ conditions. Results showed that an exogenous supply of Arg and Val significantly alleviated drought-induced damage in Fuyun6, suggesting their role in K+-alleviated drought stress in tea plants. Collectively, our results show that chloride and amino acids are important components associated with K+-alleviated drought stress in tea plants.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document