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Identification of drought tolerant mechanisms in a drought-tolerant maize mutant based on physiological, biochemical and transcriptomic analyses.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Frequently occurring drought stress negatively affects the production of maize worldwide. Numerous efforts have been made to develop drought-tolerant maize lines and to explore drought tolerant mechanisms in maize. However, there is a lack of comparative studies on transcriptomic changes between drought-tolerant and control maize lines. RESULTS:In the present study, we have developed a drought-tolerant maize mutant (C7-2t) by irradiating the seeds of maize inbred line ChangC7-2 (C7-2) with 60Co-?. Compared to its wild type C7-2, C7-2t exhibited a significantly delayed wilting and higher drought tolerance under both the controlled and field conditions, indicating its high water-holding ability. Transcriptomic profiling was performed to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between C7-2 and C7-2t during drought. As a result, a total of 4552 DEGs were implied in drought tolerance of C7-2 and C7-2t. In particular, the expression of photosynthesis-related genes in C7-2 was inhibited, whereas these genes in C7-2t were almost unaffected under drought. Moreover, a specific set of the DEGs were involved in phenylpropanoid biosynthesis and taurine (hypotaurine) metabolism in C7-2t; these DEGs were enriched in cell components associated with membrane systems and cell wall biosynthesis. CONCLUSIONS:The drought tolerance of C7-2t was largely due to its high water-holding ability, stable photosynthesis (for supporting osmoregulation) and strengthened biosynthesis of cell walls under drought conditions.

SUBMITTER: Zhang Q

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7350183 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Identification of drought tolerant mechanisms in a drought-tolerant maize mutant based on physiological, biochemical and transcriptomic analyses.

Zhang Qinbin Q Liu Hui H Wu Xiaolin X Wang Wei W

BMC plant biology 20200703 1

<h4>Background</h4>Frequently occurring drought stress negatively affects the production of maize worldwide. Numerous efforts have been made to develop drought-tolerant maize lines and to explore drought tolerant mechanisms in maize. However, there is a lack of comparative studies on transcriptomic changes between drought-tolerant and control maize lines.<h4>Results</h4>In the present study, we have developed a drought-tolerant maize mutant (C7-2t) by irradiating the seeds of maize inbred line C ...[more]

PMID: 32620139

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Dataset Information

Identification of drought tolerant mechanisms in a drought-tolerant maize mutant based on physiological, biochemical and transcriptomic analyses.

Publications

Identification of drought tolerant mechanisms in a drought-tolerant maize mutant based on physiological, biochemical and transcriptomic analyses.

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