Temporal network analysis identifies early physiological and transcriptomic indicators of mild drought in Brassica rapa
- Dartmouth College, United States
- University of Wyoming, United States
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, United States
Abstract
The dynamics of local climates make development of agricultural strategies challenging. Yield improvement has progressed slowly, especially in drought-prone regions where annual crop production suffers from episodic aridity. Underlying drought responses are circadian and diel control of gene expression that regulate daily variations in metabolic and physiological pathways. To identify transcriptomic changes that occur in the crop Brassica rapa during initial perception of drought, we applied a co-expression network approach to associate rhythmic gene expression changes with physiological responses. Coupled analysis of transcriptome and physiological parameters over a two-day time course in control and drought-stressed plants provided temporal resolution necessary for correlation of network modules with dynamic changes in stomatal conductance, photosynthetic rate, and photosystem II efficiency. This approach enabled the identification of drought-responsive genes based on their differential rhythmic expression profiles in well-watered versus droughted networks and provided new insights into the dynamic physiological changes that occur during drought.
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Article and author information
Author details
C. Robertson McClung
Funding
National Science Foundation (IOS-1202779)
- Kathleen Greenham
Rural Development Administration (SSAC PJ01106904)
- C. Robertson McClung
National Science Foundation (IOS-1025965)
- Todd C Mockler
- Cynthia Weinig
- Brent E Ewers
- C. Robertson McClung
National Science Foundation (IOS-1547796)
- Cynthia Weinig
- Brent E Ewers
- C. Robertson McClung
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Copyright
© 2017, Greenham et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Temporal network analysis identifies early physiological and transcriptomic indicators of mild drought in Brassica rapa
eLife 6:e29655.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.29655
Further reading
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Urea is intensively utilized as a nitrogen fertilizer in agriculture, originating either from root uptake or from catabolism of arginine by arginase. Despite its extensive use, the underlying physiological mechanisms of urea, particularly its adverse effects on seed germination and seedling growth under salt stress, remain unclear. In this study, we demonstrate that salt stress induces excessive hydrolysis of arginine-derived urea, leading to an increase in cytoplasmic pH within seed radical cells, which, in turn, triggers salt-induced inhibition of seed germination (SISG) and hampers seedling growth. Our findings challenge the long-held belief that ammonium accumulation and toxicity are the primary causes of SISG, offering a novel perspective on the mechanism underlying these processes. This study provides significant insights into the physiological impact of urea hydrolysis under salt stress, contributing to a better understanding of SISG.
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Salt stress delays seed germination in plants by increasing the hydrolysis of arginine-derived urea.
