A review of drought adaptation in crop plants: changes in vegetative and reproductive physiology induced by ABA-based chemical signals

2005 ◽  
Vol 56 (11) ◽  
pp. 1245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fulai Liu ◽  
Christian R. Jensen ◽  
Mathias N. Andersen
Keyword(s):  
Drought Stress ◽  
Stomatal Closure ◽  
Xylem Sap ◽  
Reproductive Development ◽  
Leaf Expansion ◽  
Rhizobium Japonicum ◽  
Soil Drying ◽  
Drought Adaptation ◽  
Chemical Signalling

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.

scholarly journals Exogenous Abscisic Acid Priming Modulates Water Relation Responses of Two Tomato Genotypes With Contrasting Endogenous Abscisic Acid Levels to Progressive Soil Drying Under Elevated CO2

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shenglan Li ◽  
Fulai Liu
Keyword(s):  
Abscisic Acid ◽  
Drought Stress ◽  
Leaf Gas Exchange ◽  
Xylem Sap ◽  
Water Relation ◽  
Soil Drying ◽  
Plant Water ◽  
Exogenous Aba ◽  
Aba Metabolism

Plants have evolved multiple strategies to survive and adapt when confronting the changing climate, including elevated CO2 concentration (e[CO2]) and intensified drought stress. To explore the role of abscisic acid (ABA) in modulating the response of plant water relation characteristics to progressive drought under ambient (a[CO2], 400 ppm) and e[CO2] (800 ppm) growth environments, two tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) genotypes, Ailsa Craig (AC) and its ABA-deficient mutant (flacca), were grown in pots, treated with or without exogenous ABA, and exposed to progressive soil drying until all plant available water in the pot was depleted. The results showed that exogenous ABA application improved leaf water potential, osmotic potential, and leaf turgor and increased leaf ABA concentrations ([ABA]leaf) in AC and flacca. In both genotypes, exogenous ABA application decreased stomatal pore aperture and stomatal conductance (gs), though these effects were less pronounced in e[CO2]-grown AC and gs of ABA-treated flacca was gradually increased until a soil water threshold after which gs started to decline. In addition, ABA-treated flacca showed a partly restored stomatal drought response even when the accumulation of [ABA]leaf was vanished, implying [ABA]leaf might be not directly responsible for the decreased gs. During soil drying, [ABA]leaf remained higher in e[CO2]-grown plants compared with those under a[CO2], and a high xylem sap ABA concentration was also noticed in the ABA-treated flacca especially under e[CO2], suggesting that e[CO2] might exert an effect on ABA degradation and/or redistribution. Collectively, a fine-tune ABA homeostasis under combined e[CO2] and drought stress allowed plants to optimize leaf gas exchange and plant water relations, yet more detailed research regarding ABA metabolism is still needed to fully explore the role of ABA in mediating plant physiological response to future drier and CO2-enriched climate.

Involvement of Abscisic Acid in Controlling Plant Growth in Soil of Low Water Potential

1993 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 425 ◽  
Author(s):  
R Munns ◽  
RE Sharp
Keyword(s):  
Abscisic Acid ◽  
Plant Growth ◽  
Water Potential ◽  
Cell Expansion ◽  
Shoot Growth ◽  
Xylem Sap ◽  
Leaf Expansion ◽  
Root And Shoot Growth ◽  
Dry Soil

Hormones appear to be important in controlling plant growth in soils of low water potential, particularly in changing the root:shoot ratio as the soil dries or becomes saline, and in communicating soil conditions to the leaves. This review has necessarily focused on abscisic acid (ABA), as there is little information about the role of other hormones in controlling growth in dry or saline soils. ABA is partly responsible for the differential response of root and shoot growth to dry soils. In dry soil it maintains root growth and inhibits shoot growth. However, when applied to well-watered plants, it usually inhibits root and shoot growth, showing that plants in dry soil respond quite differently from well-watered plants. ABA affects the rate of cell expansion in plants in dry soils: it maintains cell expansion in roots and inhibits that in leaves. It may also affect the rate of cell production, but little is known about this. The role of ABA as a long-distance signal in controlling growth by root-to-shoot communication is unclear: the concentrations found in xylem sap can affect stomatal conductance, but seem too low to affect leaf expansion. Yet drought and salinity generally affect leaf expansion before they affect leaf conductance. A possible solution to this puzzle is that ABA is transported in xylem sap in a complexed form, or that another compound in xylem sap stimulates the synthesis or activity of ABA in leaves, or affects leaf expansion independently of ABA.

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 ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drought Stress ◽  
Drought Tolerance ◽  
Plant Density ◽  
Stomatal Closure ◽  
Induced Volatiles ◽  
Positive Regulators ◽  
Tea Plants ◽  
Aba Content ◽  
Volatile Cues

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.

Ion-mediated compensation for drought-induced loss of xylem hydraulic conductivity in field-growing plants of Laurus nobilis

2011 ◽  
Vol 38 (7) ◽  
pp. 606 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrizia Trifilò ◽  
Andrea Nardini ◽  
Fabio Raimondo ◽  
Maria A. Lo Gullo ◽  
Sebastiano Salleo
Keyword(s):  
Drought Stress ◽  
Hydraulic Conductivity ◽  
Potassium Concentration ◽  
Stomatal Closure ◽  
Xylem Sap ◽  
Hydraulic Conductance ◽  
Residual Water ◽  
Xylem Cavitation ◽  
Laurus Nobilis ◽  
Mild Drought

Xylem cavitation is a common occurrence in drought-stressed plants. Cavitation-induced embolism reduces xylem hydraulic conductivity (kxylem) and may lead to stomatal closure and reduction of photosynthetic rates. Recent studies have suggested that plants may compensate for kxylem loss through ion-mediated enhancement of the residual water transport capacity of functioning conduits. To test this hypothesis, field-grown laurel (Laurus nobilis L.) plants were subjected to mild drought stress by suspending irrigation. Drought treatment induced a significant increase in xylem embolism compared with control (well watered) plants. Xylem sap potassium concentration ([K+]) increased during the day both in control and water stressed plants. Midday values of sap [K+] were significantly higher in water stressed plants. The recorded increase in sap potassium concentration induced significant enhancement of residual kxylem when solutions with different [K+] were perfused through excised stems sampled in the field and measured in the laboratory. In planta measurements of stem hydraulic conductance revealed no change between water stressed plants and controls. Our data suggest that ion-mediated enhancement of residual kxylem buffered the actual loss of hydraulic conductance suffered by plants during the warmest hours of the day as well as under mild drought stress conditions.

scholarly journals The E3 ligase MREL57 modulates microtubule stability and stomatal closure in response to ABA

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Liru Dou ◽  
Kaikai He ◽  
Jialin Peng ◽  
Xiangfeng Wang ◽  
Tonglin Mao
Keyword(s):  
Drought Stress ◽  
Stomatal Closure ◽  
E3 Ligase ◽  
26S Proteasome ◽  
Stomatal Movement ◽  
Plant Adaptation ◽  
Ubiquitin E3 Ligase ◽  
Microtubule Stability ◽  
Dependent Pathway

AbstractRegulation of stomatal movement is critical for plant adaptation to environmental stresses. The microtubule cytoskeleton undergoes disassembly, which is critical for stomatal closure in response to abscisic acid (ABA). However, the mechanism underlying this regulation largely remains unclear. Here we show that a ubiquitin-26S proteasome (UPS)-dependent pathway mediates microtubule disassembly and is required for ABA-induced stomatal closure. Moreover, we identify and characterize the ubiquitin E3 ligase MREL57 (MICROTUBULE-RELATED E3 LIGASE57) and the microtubule-stabilizing protein WDL7 (WAVE-DAMPENED2-LIKE7) in Arabidopsis and show that the MREL57-WDL7 module regulates microtubule disassembly to mediate stomatal closure in response to drought stress and ABA treatment. MREL57 interacts with, ubiquitinates and degrades WDL7, and this effect is clearly enhanced by ABA. ABA-induced stomatal closure and microtubule disassembly are significantly suppressed in mrel57 mutants, and these phenotypes can be restored when WDL7 expression is decreased. Our results unravel UPS-dependent mechanisms and the role of an MREL57-WDL7 module in microtubule disassembly and stomatal closure in response to drought stress and ABA.

Differences in stomatal responses and root to shoot signalling between two grapevine varieties subjected to drought

2010 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandros Beis ◽  
Angelos Patakas
Keyword(s):  
Water Potential ◽  
Stomatal Closure ◽  
Vitis Vinifera L ◽  
Drought Adaptation ◽  
Drought Period ◽  
Chemical Signalling ◽  
Stomatal Sensitivity ◽  
Ph Increase ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Maximum Stomatal Conductance

A comparative study on stomatal control between two grapevine varieties (Vitis vinifera L. cvs Sabatiano and Mavrodafni) differing in their ability for drought adaptation was conducted using 3-year-old own-rooted plants. The plants were subjected to prolonged drought stress by withholding irrigation water. The relationship between predawn water potential and maximum stomatal conductance indicated significant differences in stomatal sensitivity to drought between the two varieties. Stomatal closure occurred at higher values of predawn water potential in Sabatiano compared with Mavrodafni. No significant differences were found in plant hydraulic conductance and osmotic potential at full turgor (π100) between the two varieties. Leaf and root ABA concentrations increased more rapidly in Mavrodafni compared with Sabatiano at the beginning of the drought period. Furthermore, Mavrodafni also exhibited significantly higher xylem pH values as well as higher stomatal sensitivity to ABA and pH increase compared with Sabatiano. Results suggest that these two grapevine varieties might have evolved different strategies in order to adapt under drought conditions. In particular, the greater ability for drought adaptation in Sabatiano might be attributed to the more efficient regulation of stomatal closure. In contrast, chemical signalling in Mavrodafni seems to be the main mechanism for drought adaptation.

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