Physiological and transcriptomic analysis highlight key metabolic pathways in relation to drought tolerance in Rhododendron delavayi.

ABSTRACT: Rhododendron delavayi is an alpine evergreen ornamental plant, but water shortage limits its growth and development in urban gardens. However, the adaptive mechanism of alpine evergreen rhododendrons to drought remains unclear. Here, a water control experiment was conducted to study the physiological and transcriptomic response of R. delavayi to drought. The drought treatment for 9 days decreased photosynthetic rate, induced accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and damaged chloroplast ultrastructure of R. delavayi. However, the photosynthetic rate quickly recovered to the level before treatment when the plants were re-watered. De novo assembly of RNA-Seq data generated 86,855 unigenes with an average length of 1870 bp. A total of 22,728 differentially express

SUBMITTER: Cai YF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6656850 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature