scholarly journals Effects of SAG12-ipt and HSP18.2-ipt Expression on Cytokinin Production, Root Growth, and Leaf Senescence in Creeping Bentgrass Exposed to Drought Stress

2010 ◽  
Vol 135 (3) ◽  
pp. 230-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily B. Merewitz ◽  
Thomas Gianfagna ◽  
Bingru Huang

Drought stress is a widespread abiotic stress that causes a decline in plant growth. Drought injury symptoms have been associated with an inhibition in cytokinin (CK) synthesis. The objectives of this study were to investigate whether expression of a gene (ipt) encoding the enzyme adenine isopentenyl phosphotransferase for CK synthesis ligated to a senescence-activated promoter (SAG12) or a heat shock promoter (HSP18.2) would improve drought tolerance in creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera) and to examine shoot and root growth responses to drought stress associated with changes in endogenous production of CK, and the proportional change in CK and abscisic acid (ABA) due to ipt transformation. Most SAG12-ipt and HSP18.2-ipt transgenic lines exhibited significantly higher turf quality, photochemical efficiency, chlorophyll content, leaf relative water content, and root:shoot ratio under drought stress than the null transformant or the wild-type ‘Penncross’ plants. Transgenic lines that had better growth and turf performance generally had higher CK content and a higher CK-to-ABA ratio, although the direct correlation of CK and ABA content with individual physiological parameters in individual lines was not clear. Our results demonstrated that expressing ipt resulted in the improvement of turf performance under drought stress in creeping bentgrass in some of the transgenic plants with SAG12-ipt or HSP18.2-ipt, which could be associated with the suppression of leaf senescence and promoting root growth relative to shoot growth due to the maintenance of higher CK level and a higher ratio of CK to ABA.

HortScience ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 519-524 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen E. McCann ◽  
Bingru Huang

The objectives of this study were: 1) to compare drought responses between the more recently developed creeping bentgrass cultivars to standard cultivars and 2) to determine differential drought tolerance and avoidance characteristics associated with cultivar variation in drought resistance. Six cultivars of creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stoloniferia) (‘Penn A-4’, ‘Independence’, ‘Declaration’, ‘L-93’, ‘Penncross’, and ‘Putter’) were maintained in growth chambers at 20 °C day/15 °C night either well-watered or exposed to drought stress by withholding water for 17 days. Cultivars varied in turf performance and physiological responses (leaf relative water content and photochemical efficiency) to drought stress, which was reflected in their differences in drought tolerance (osmotic adjustment) and drought avoidance traits (water use rate and efficiency, root viability, root length, and number). ‘Penn A-4,’ ‘Independence,’ and ‘L-93’ generally performed better than other three cultivars under drought conditions, mainly through maintaining higher water use efficiency, root viability, root elongation, or root production. The majority of physiological parameters evaluated suggested that of the six creeping bentgrass cultivars examined in this study, the three cultivars with better ability to survive drought stress used mainly avoidance traits related to water use and water uptake.


2017 ◽  
Vol 142 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanalkumar Krishnan ◽  
Emily B. Merewitz

Polyamines (PAs), spermine (Spm), and spermidine (Spd) may enhance the abiotic stress tolerance and growth of creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera). Growth chamber studies were conducted to investigate the effect of PA application on the physiological response and hormone content in creeping bentgrass ‘Penn-G2’ under drought. Spm (1 mm) and Spd (5 mm) were applied exogenously under drought or well-watered conditions. PA-treated plants maintained significantly higher turf quality (TQ), relative water content (RWC), photochemical efficiency, and membrane health while maintaining lower canopy temperature. Spm at the 1-mm rate had a 2.46-fold higher osmotic adjustment (OA) at 10 d compared with control plants. A greater content of gibberellic acid (GA) isoforms (GA1, GA4, and GA20) were observed compared with controls during both studies for PA-treated plants under drought. After 7 days of drought stress in Expt.1, GA1 levels were 3.26 higher for Spm 1-mm-treated plants compared with drought controls. GA4 contents were 69% and 65% higher compared with drought-stressed-untreated plants for Spd 5-mm application after 9 and 11 days. Higher levels of GA20 were observed at 10 days (Spd 5 mm, 108.9% higher) due to PA treatment compared with drought controls. In addition to differential regulation of GA isoforms, we observed enhanced abscisic acid (ABA) due to PA application; however, not on a consistent basis. This study showed that PA application may play a role in GA1, GA4, and ABA accumulation in creeping bentgrass ‘Penn G-2’ under drought stress.


2015 ◽  
Vol 140 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vijaya Shukla ◽  
Yingmei Ma ◽  
Emily Merewitz

Polyamines (PAs) such as spermidine (Spd), spermine (Spm), and putrescine are involved in various biological functions including abiotic stress response. Whether PAs play an important role in cool-season turfgrass tolerance of drought stress is not well investigated. We have conducted a series of growth chamber (GC) studies including one hydroponic and two soil-based GC studies with creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera) ‘Penncross’ and ‘Penn-G2’ to determine whether exogenous application of PAs may affect plant growth and stress tolerance. Application of relatively low concentrations of Spd (500 or 750 μM) or Spm (500 μM) promoted tillering rates under optimal growth conditions in hydroponics. The same levels of PA treatments moderated the damages associated with drought stress in the soil-based GC studies. The most notable differences in drought response associated with PA treatment were increased membrane health. This was observed as greater photochemical efficiency, higher quantum yield, less electrolyte leakage, and less lipid peroxidation (malondialdehyde content) in PA-treated plants compared with control plants. The relatively low level of exogenous PAs used in this study did not have a major effect on plant water relations under drought stress. Canopy temperatures and soil moisture content were unaffected by any PA treatment; however, on some days during early drought stress, relative water content was significantly higher in PA-treated plants compared with controls. PA could play a major role in protecting photosynthetic and cellular membranes during drought stress of creeping bentgrass.


2015 ◽  
Vol 140 (6) ◽  
pp. 605-613 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nanqing Liu ◽  
Yixin Shen ◽  
Bingru Huang

Compatible solute accumulation regulating osmotic adjustment (OA) is associated with drought tolerance. The objectives of this study were to examine genetic variations in OA among a diverse group of bentgrass (Agrostis sp.) genotypes or lines with differential drought tolerance, and determine major types of organic osmoregulants contributing to OA and accounting for the genetic variations in drought tolerance. A wild type cultivar of creeping bentgrass [Agrostis stolonifera (Penncross)], a transgenic line of creeping bentgrass (SAGIPT41), and four hybrid bentgrass lines [Agrostis capillaris × Agrostis stolonifera (ColxCr14, ColxCr190, ColxCr481, and ColxCr679)] were exposed to drought stress by withholding irrigation for 17 days in growth chambers. Among genotypes, ColxCr14, ColxCr190, and SAGIPT41 showed superior drought tolerance, as manifested by higher turf quality (TQ) and leaf relative water content (RWC), as well as OA than ‘Penncross’, ColxCr679, and ColxCr481 under drought stress. SAGIPT41 leaves accumulated greater content of soluble sugars (glucose, sucrose, and fructose), proline, glycine betaine (GB), and spermine; ColxCr190 had higher content of soluble sugars and spermidine; and ColxCr14 accumulated more soluble sugars and GB, compared with the three drought-sensitive genotypes. Soluble sugars were predominant contributors to OA, followed by GB and proline, with all three forms of polyamine (PA) as minor contributors in bentgrass genotypes. The osmolytes highly correlated to OA and superior drought tolerance could be used as biomarkers to select for drought-tolerant germplasm of bentgrass and other cool-season turfgrass species.


2007 ◽  
Vol 132 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Watkins ◽  
Bingru Huang ◽  
William A. Meyer

Tufted hairgrass [Deschampsia cespitosa (L.) Beauv.] is receiving increasing attention as a low-maintenance turfgrass for use in areas with reduced fertility or reduced sunlight. The objectives of this study were to examine physiological responses of tufted hairgrass to heat and drought stress and to distinguish whether better summer performance was related to better heat or drought tolerance. Four germplasm lines were chosen based on summer performance in field plots (two lines resistant to summer stress and two lines susceptible to summer stress) and were grown in growth chambers [14-hour photoperiod, 20/15 °C (day/night)]. Plants were exposed to either drought stress or heat stress (35/30 °C, day/night) for up to 49 days. Control plants maintained under normal conditions (20/15 °C, day/night, well watered) were included for both treatments. During the course of the study, single-leaf photosynthetic rate, photochemical efficiency, and relative water content were measured, and turf quality was visually rated. All parameters for all tufted hairgrass lines decreased under drought stress and heat stress, and the decline was more severe for summer stress-susceptible lines than for resistant lines. Lines that were previously considered resistant to summer stress exhibited superior photochemical efficiency under heat stress compared with the susceptible lines. When subjected to drought stress, the lines exhibited little or no differences in the measured parameters. These results suggest that observed variation in field summer performance among various tufted hairgrass germplasm lines may be mainly the result of their differences in heat tolerance. These results suggest that selecting for heat-tolerant germplasm could be important for further improvement in turf performance of tufted hairgrass during the summer.


Author(s):  
Obed J. Mwenye ◽  
Leon Van Rensburg ◽  
Angeline Van Biljon ◽  
Rouxlene Van der Merwe

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dalton O. Ferreira ◽  
Otto T. Fraga ◽  
Maiana R. Pimenta ◽  
Hanna D. N. Caetano ◽  
João Paulo B. Machado ◽  
...  

Glycine max NAC81 (GmNAC81) is a downstream effector of the DCD/NRP-mediated cell death signaling, which interacts with GmNAC30 to fully induce the caspase 1-like vacuolar processing enzyme (VPE) expression, the executioner of the cell death program. GmNAC81 has been previously shown to positively modulate leaf senescence via the NRP/GmNAC81/VPE signaling module. Here, we examined the transcriptome induced by GmNAC81 overexpression and leaf senescence and showed that GmNAC81 further modulates leaf senescence by regulating an extensive repertoire of functionally characterized senescence-associated genes (SAGs). Because the NRP/GmNAC81/VPE signaling circuit also relays stress-induced cell death signals, we examined the effect of GmNAC81 overexpression in drought responses. Enhanced GmNAC81 expression in the transgenic lines increased sensitivity to water deprivation. Under progressive drought, the GmNAC81-overexpressing lines displayed severe leaf wilting, a larger and faster decline in leaf Ψw, relative water content (RWC), photosynthesis rate, stomatal conductance, and transpiration rate, in addition to higher Ci/Ca and lower Fm/Fv ratios compared to the BR16 control line. Collectively, these results indicate that the photosynthetic activity and apparatus were more affected by drought in the transgenic lines. Consistent with hypersensitivity to drought, chlorophyll loss, and lipid peroxidation were higher in the GmNAC81-overexpressing lines than in BR16 under dehydration. In addition to inducing VPE expression, GmNAC81 overexpression uncovered the regulation of typical drought-responsive genes. In particular, key regulators and effectors of ABA signaling were suppressed by GmNAC81 overexpression. These results suggest that GmNAC81 may negatively control drought tolerance not only via VPE activation but also via suppression of ABA signaling.


2009 ◽  
Vol 134 (6) ◽  
pp. 602-609 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinpeng Xing ◽  
Yan Xu ◽  
Jiang Tian ◽  
Thomas Gianfagna ◽  
Bingru Huang

Cytokinins have been associated with delaying or suppressing leaf senescence in plants. The objectives of this study were to determine whether the expression of the ipt gene that encodes adenine isopentenyltransferase would delay leaf senescence induced by shade or heat stress in a perennial grass species. Creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera cv. Penncross) was transformed with ipt isolated from agrobacterium (Agrobacterium tumefaciens) using two gene constructs (SAG12-ipt and HSP18-ipt) designed to activate cytokinin synthesis during shade or heat stress. Whole plants of nine SAG12-ipt transgenic lines and the nontransgenic control plants were incubated in darkness at 20 °C for 20 days. Chlorophyll content of all transgenic lines and the control line decreased after dark treatment, but the decline was less pronounced in transgenic lines. All transgenic lines had higher isopentenyladenine (iP/iPA) content than the control line after 20 days of treatment. In six of the transgenic lines, iP/iPA content remained the same or higher after dark treatment. Whole plants of nine HSP18-ipt transgenic lines and the control plants were incubated at 35 °C for 7 days. Chlorophyll and iP/iPA content declined in the control plants, but the nine transgenic lines had a significantly higher concentration of iP/iPA and were able to maintain chlorophyll content at the prestress level. Our results suggest that expression of SAG12-ipt or HSP18-ipt in creeping bentgrass resulted in increases in cytokinin production, which may have led to the delay and suppression of leaf senescence induced by shade or heat stress.


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