Towards a conceptual ABA ideotype in plant breeding for water limited environments

2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 502 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abraham Blum

A huge amount of information had been accumulated on abscisic acid (ABA). Laboratory and some field research with ABA-enhanced transgenic plants generally conclude that ABA is a drought resistance hormone, since it causes stomatal closure, reduces transpiration and results in ‘water saving’ under drought stress. This recurring conclusion is hard to accept in the agronomic domain considering the many direct and indirect negative effects of ABA on plant growth and reproduction. In order to formulate a conceptual phenotypic ABA ideotype for plant breeding, this paper begins by briefly reviewing the phenomics of ABA relative to plant function and productivity. Consequently, it is recognised that ABA enhancement is important in controlling the isohydric (‘water saving’) plant model, whereas plant hydraulics are more important in controlling the anisohydric (‘water spending’) plant model. Subsequently, the respective isohydric and anisohydric ideotypes appropriate to specific dryland crop drought stress scenarios are proposed. It is concluded that ABA can by no means be universally defined as a ‘drought resistance hormone’. Its benefit or damage depends on the crop drought stress profile and the dynamics of the seasonal regimen of ABA in the plant. The isohydric ideotype might have an advantage in the harshest environments, whereas the anisohydric one will perform relatively better under more moderate drought conditions.

2020 ◽  
Vol 71 (19) ◽  
pp. 6092-6106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ping-Xia Zhao ◽  
Zi-Qing Miao ◽  
Jing Zhang ◽  
Si-Yan Chen ◽  
Qian-Qian Liu ◽  
...  

Abstract Drought is one of the most important environmental factors limiting plant growth and productivity. The molecular mechanisms underlying plant drought resistance are complex and not yet fully understood. Here, we show that the Arabidopsis MADS-box transcription factor AGL16 acts as a negative regulator in drought resistance by regulating stomatal density and movement. Loss-of-AGL16 mutants were more resistant to drought stress and had higher relative water content, which was attributed to lower leaf stomatal density and more sensitive stomatal closure due to higher leaf ABA levels compared with the wild type. AGL16-overexpressing lines displayed the opposite phenotypes. AGL16 is preferentially expressed in guard cells and down-regulated in response to drought stress. The expression of CYP707A3 and AAO3 in ABA metabolism and SDD1 in stomatal development was altered in agl16 and overexpression lines, making them potential targets of AGL16. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation, transient transactivation, yeast one-hybrid, and electrophoretic mobility shift assays, we demonstrated that AGL16 was able to bind the CArG motifs in the promoters of the CYP707A3, AAO3, and SDD1 and regulate their transcription, leading to altered leaf stomatal density and ABA levels. Taking our findings together, AGL16 acts as a negative regulator of drought resistance by modulating leaf stomatal density and ABA accumulation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie-Xia Liu ◽  
Kai Feng ◽  
Ao-Qi Duan ◽  
Hui Li ◽  
Qing-Qing Yang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Celery is a widely cultivated vegetable abundant in ascorbate (AsA), a natural plant antioxidant capable of scavenging free radicals generated by abiotic stress in plants. Ascorbate peroxidase (APX) is a plant antioxidant enzyme that is important in the synthesis of AsA and scavenging of excess hydrogen peroxide. However, the characteristics and functions of APX in celery remain unclear to date. Results In this study, a gene encoding APX was cloned from celery and named AgAPX1. The transcription level of the AgAPX1 gene was significantly upregulated under drought stress. AgAPX1 was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) and purified. The predicted molecular mass of rAgAPX1 was 33.16 kDa, which was verified by SDS-PAGE assay. The optimum pH and temperature for rAgAPX1 were 7.0 and 55 °C, respectively. Transgenic Arabidopsis hosting the AgAPX1 gene showed elevated AsA content, antioxidant capacity and drought resistance. Less decrease in net photosynthetic rate, chlorophyll content, and relative water content contributed to the high survival rate of transgenic Arabidopsis lines after drought. Conclusions The characteristics of APX in celery were different from that in other species. The enhanced drought resistance of overexpressing AgAPX1 in Arabidopsis may be achieved by increasing the accumulation of AsA, enhancing the activities of various antioxidant enzymes, and promoting stomatal closure. Our work provides new evidence to understand APX and its response mechanisms to drought stress in celery.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ping-Xia Zhao ◽  
Zi-Qing Miao ◽  
Jing Zhang ◽  
Qian-Qian Liu ◽  
Cheng-Bin Xiang

ABSTRACTDrought is one of the most severe environmental factors limiting plant growth and productivity. Plants respond to drought by closing stomata to reduce water loss. The molecular mechanisms underlying plant drought resistance are very complex and yet to be fully understood. While much research attention has been focused on the positive regulation of stomatal closure, less is known about its negative regulation, equally important in this reversible process. Here we show that the MADS-box transcriptional factor AGL16 acts as a negative regulator in drought resistance by regulating both stomatal density and movement. Loss-of-function mutantagl16was more resistant to drought stress with higher relative water content, which was attributed to a reduced leaf stomatal density and more sensitive stomatal closure due to a higher leaf ABA level compared with wild type, whileAGL16overexpression lines displayed the opposite phenotypes.AGL16is preferentially expressed in guard cells and down regulated in response to drought stress. The expression ofCYP707A3andAAO3in ABA metabolism andSDD1in stomatal development was altered by AGL16 as shown inagl16and overexpression lines. Chromatin immunoprecipitation, transient transactivation, and yeast-one-hybrid assays demonstrated that AGL16 bound the CArG motif in the promoter of theCYP707A3,AAO3, andSDD1to regulate their transcription, and therefore alter leaf stomatal density and ABA level. Taken together, AGL16 acts as a negative regulator of drought resistance by modulating leaf stomatal density and ABA accumulation.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuxia Li ◽  
Zhihao Cheng ◽  
Zhibo Li ◽  
Shiman Dong ◽  
Xiaoling Yu ◽  
...  

Abstract Drought stress severely impairs crop yield and is considered a primary threat to food security worldwide. Although the SQUAMOSA promoter binding protein-like 9 (SPL9) gene participates extensively in numerous developmental processes and in plant response to abiotic stimuli, its role and regulatory pathway in cassava (Manihot esculenta) response to the drought condition remain elusive. In the current study, we show that MeSPL9 plays negative roles in drought stress resistance. MeSPL9 expression was strongly repressed by drought treatment. Overexpression of a dominant-negative form of miR156-resistant MeSPL9, rMeSPL9-SRDX, in which a 12-amino acid repressor sequence was fused to rMeSPL9 at the C terminus, conferred drought tolerance without penalizing overall growth. rMeSPL9-SRDX-overexpressing lines not only exhibited increased osmoprotectant metabolites including proline and anthocyanin, but also accumulated more endogenous jasmonic acid (JA) and soluble sugars. Transcriptomic and real-time PCR analysis suggested that differentially expressed genes were involved in sugar or JA biosynthesis, signaling, and metabolism in transgenic cassava under drought conditions. Exogenous application of JA further confirmed that JA conferred improved drought resistance and promoted stomatal closure in cassava leaves. Taken together, our findings suggest that MeSPL9 affects drought resistance by modulating protectant metabolite levels and JA signaling, which have substantial implications for engineering drought tolerant crops.


HortScience ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 897-901 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bingru Huang ◽  
Hongwen Gao

Drought is among the most limiting factors for turfgrass growth. Understanding genetic variations and physiological mechanisms in turfgrass drought resistance would facilitate breeding and management programs to improve drought resistance. The experiment was designed to investigate shoot physiological responses of six tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) cultivars representing several generations of turfgrass improvement to drought stress. Grasses were grown in well-watered or drying (nonirrigated) soil for 35 days in the greenhouse. Net photosynthetic rate (Pn), stomatal conductance (gs), transpiration rate (Tr), relative water content (RWC), and photochemical efficiency (Fv/Fm) declined during drought progression in all cultivars, but the time and the severity of reductions varied with cultivar and physiological factors. The values of Pn, RWC, gs, and Tr decreased significantly for `Rebel Jr', `Bonsai', and `Phoenix' when soil water content declined to 20% after 9 days of treatment (DOT) and for `Houndog V', `Kentucky-31', and `Falcon II' when soil water content dropped to 10% at 15 DOT. A significant decrease in Fv/Fm was not observed in drought-stressed plants until 21 DOT for `Rebel Jr', `Bonsai', and `Phoenix' and 28 DOT for `Houndog V', `Kentucky-31', and `Falcon II'. The decline in Pn resulted mainly from internal water deficit and stomatal closure under mild drought-stress conditions. After a prolonged period of drought stress (35 DOT), `Falcon II', `Houndog V', and `Kentucky-31' maintained higher Pn than did `Rebel Jr', `Bonsai', and `Phoenix', which could be attributed to their higher Fv/Fm. This study demonstrated variation in drought resistance among tall fescue cultivars, which was related to their differential responses in photosynthetic capacity and water relations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip G. Comeau

Drought stress associated with warm temperatures is causing increased mortality and reduced growth of trees in drier portions of the boreal forests of western Canada with both warming and drought expected to increase over the coming decades. While thinning is often shown to reduce drought stress, there is little information on its effects in stands comprised of mixtures of trembling aspen and white spruce that are common in the forests of this region. This study examined effects of pre-commercial thinning on aspen and spruce growth, response to drought stress, and stand dynamics for two study sites located in Saskatchewan, Canada. In unthinned plots aspen densities declined from initial densities of 40,000 to 200,000 trees ha−1 to 2,639 trees ha−1 at age 26. Twenty-one years after thinning (i.e., at age 26) diameter of aspen and spruce had increased, with largest trees being found at the lowest aspen densities (200 aspen ha−1 for aspen and 0 aspen ha−1 for spruce). Aspen density affected average height but not height of aspen top height trees. Spruce height decreased significantly with increasing aspen density. Crown width and live crown ratio of both aspen and spruce declined with increasing aspen density. Data from cores collected from aspen and spruce indicate significant positive effects of tree size (basal area at beginning of the year), and CMI (Climate Moisture Index) on basal area increment of both aspen and spruce while increasing aspen basal area (m2ha−1) had negative effects on aspen and spruce growth. Increasing tree size (basal area) and aspen competition (basal area ha−1) both had negative effects on drought resistance and resilience for both aspen and spruce. Yield projections provided by the Mixedwood Growth Model (MGM) suggest that the mixture of 1,500 aspen ha−1 and 1,000 spruce ha−1 has the potential to provide a 23% increase in total mean annual increment (MAI) with a single harvest at age 100, compared to unthinned aspen stands, but with a 44% reduction in spruce MAI compared to pure spruce stands. Thinning of aspen to densities below 4,000 trees ha−1 at age 5 resulted in reduced aspen yields but increased spruce yields.


Author(s):  
Riyazuddin Riyazuddin ◽  
Nisha Nisha ◽  
Kalpita Singh ◽  
Radhika Verma ◽  
Ravi Gupta

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (9) ◽  
pp. 825 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maryam Rezayian ◽  
Vahid Niknam ◽  
Hassan Ebrahimzadeh

The aim of this research was to gauge the alternations in the lipid peroxidation and antioxidative enzyme activity in two cultivars (cv. RGS003 and cv. Sarigol) of canola under drought stress and drought tolerance amelioration by penconazole (PEN) and calcium (Ca). Plants were treated with different polyethylene glycol (PEG) concentrations (0, 5, 10 and 15%) without or with PEN (15 mg L–1) and Ca (15 mM). The Ca treatment prevented the negative effects of drought on fresh weight (FW) in RGS003 and Sarigol at 5 and 15% PEG respectively. Ca and PEN/Ca treatments caused significant induction in the proline content in Sarigol at 15% PEG; the latter treatment was accompanied by higher glycine betaine (GB), lower malondialdehyde (MDA) and growth recovery. Hydrogen peroxide (HO2) content in Sarigol was proportional to the severity of drought stress and all PEN, Ca and PEN/Ca treatments significantly reduced the H2O2 content. PEN and PEN/Ca caused alleviation of the drought-induced oxidative stress in RGS003. RGS003 cultivar exhibited significantly higher antioxidative enzymes activity at most levels of drought, which could lead to its drought tolerance and lower MDA content. In contrast to that of Sarigol, the activity of catalase and superoxide dismutase (SOD) increased with Ca and PEN/Ca treatments in RGS003 under low stress. The application of PEN and Ca induced significantly P5CS and SOD expression in RGS003 under drought stress after 24 h. Overall, these data demonstrated that PEN and Ca have the ability to enhance the tolerance against the drought stress in canola plants.


1997 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 245-259
Author(s):  
Ned Kock ◽  
Robert Mcqueen

Process improvement (PI) groups have been among the main change instruments of widely adopted and publicized organizational development approaches such as total quality management and business process re-engineering. Asynchronous groupware tools, such as electronic messaging systems, have found widespread use in organizations yet very little field research exists on how PI groups are affected by such tools. We try to fill this gap with a field study of the effects of asynchronous groupware support on seven PI groups in two New Zealand organizations. Our study indicates that, while not having perceived negative effects on group effectiveness, asynchronous groupware support was perceived as increasing process adoption, hierarchy suppression, departmental heterogeneity and contribution length and decreasing discussion duration, cost and interaction in PI groups. We argue that, based on these findings, the use of asynchronous groupware tools is likely to be beneficial in PI projects, particularly where a large number of PI groups proposing incremental process changes is conducted.


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