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Genetics and genomics of root system variation in adaptation to drought stress in cereal crops.

ABSTRACT: Cereals are important crops worldwide that help meet food demands and nutritional needs. In recent years, cereal production has been challenged globally by frequent droughts and hot spells. A plant's root is the most relevant organ for the plant adaptation to stress conditions, playing pivotal roles in anchorage and the acquisition of soil-based resources. Thus, dissecting root system variations and trait selection for enhancing yield and sustainability under drought stress conditions should aid in future global food security. This review highlights the variations in root system attributes and their interplay with shoot architecture features to face water scarcity and maintain thus yield of major cereal crops. Further, we compile the root-related drought responsive quantitative trait loci/genes in cereal crops including their interspecies relationships using microsynteny to facilitate comparative genomic analyses. We then discuss the potential of an integrated strategy combining genomics and phenomics at genetic and epigenetic levels to explore natural genetic diversity as a basis for knowledge-based genome editing. Finally, we present an outline to establish innovative breeding leads for the rapid and optimized selection of root traits necessary to develop resilient crop varieties.

SUBMITTER: Siddiqui MN

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7904151 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Genetics and genomics of root system variation in adaptation to drought stress in cereal crops.

Siddiqui Md Nurealam MN Léon Jens J Naz Ali A AA Ballvora Agim A

Journal of experimental botany 20210201 4

Cereals are important crops worldwide that help meet food demands and nutritional needs. In recent years, cereal production has been challenged globally by frequent droughts and hot spells. A plant's root is the most relevant organ for the plant adaptation to stress conditions, playing pivotal roles in anchorage and the acquisition of soil-based resources. Thus, dissecting root system variations and trait selection for enhancing yield and sustainability under drought stress conditions should aid ...[more]

PMID: 33096558

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Project description:Drought stress reduces crop biomass yield and the profitability of rainfed agricultural systems. Evaluation of populations or accessions adapted to diverse geographical and agro-climatic environments sheds light on beneficial plant responses to enhance and optimize yield in resource-limited environments. This study used the morphological and physiological characteristics of leaves and roots from two different alfalfa subspecies during progressive drought stress imposed on controlled and field conditions. Two different soils (Experiments 1 and 2) imposed water stress at different stress intensities and crop stages in the controlled environment. Algorithm-based image analysis of leaves and root systems revealed key morphological and physiological traits associated with biomass yield under stress. The Medicago sativa subspecies (ssp.) sativa population, PI478573, had smaller leaves and maintained higher chlorophyll content (CC), leaf water potential, and osmotic potential under water stress. In contrast, M. sativa ssp. varia, PI502521, had larger leaves, a robust root system, and more biomass yield. In the field study, an unmanned aerial vehicle survey revealed PI502521 to have a higher normalized difference vegetation index (vegetation cover and plant health characteristics) throughout the cropping season, whereas PI478573 values were low during the hot summer and yielded low biomass in both irrigated and rainfed treatments. RhizoVision Explorer image analysis of excavated roots revealed a smaller diameter and a narrow root angle as target traits to increase alfalfa biomass yield irrespective of water availability. Root architectural traits such as network area, solidity, volume, surface area, and maximum radius exhibited significant variation at the genotype level only under limited water availability. Different drought-adaptive strategies identified across subspecies populations will benefit the plant under varying levels of water limitation and facilitate the development of alfalfa cultivars suitable across a broad range of growing conditions. The alleles from both subspecies will enable the development of drought-tolerant alfalfa with enhanced productivity under limited water availability.

Project description:Drought is a major abiotic stress that threatens crop production. Soil microbiomes are thought to play a role in enhancing plant adaptation to various stresses. However, it remains unclear whether soil microbiomes play a key role when plants are challenged by drought and whether different varieties are enriched with specific bacteria at the rhizosphere. In this study, we measured changes in growth phenotypes, physiological and biochemical characteristics of drought-tolerant alfalfa (AH) and drought-sensitive (QS) under sterilized and unsterilized soil conditions with adequate watering and with drought stress, and analyzed the rhizosphere bacterial community composition and changes using 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing. We observed that the unsterilized treatment significantly improved the growth, and physiological and biochemical characteristics of alfalfa seedlings under drought stress compared to the sterilized treatment. Under drought stress, the fresh and dry weight of seedlings increased by 35.24, 29.04, and 11.64%, 2.74% for unsterilized AH and QS, respectively, compared to sterilized treatments. The improvement was greater for AH than for QS. AH and QS recruited different rhizosphere bacteria when challenged by drought. Interestingly, under well-watered conditions, the AH rhizosphere was already rich in drought-tolerant bacterial communities, mainly Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes, whereas these bacteria started to increase only when QS was subjected to drought. When drought stress was applied, AH was enriched with more drought-tolerant bacteria, mainly Acidobacteria, while the enrichment was weaker in QS rhizosphere. Therefore, the increase in drought tolerance of the drought-tolerant variety AH was greater than that of the drought-sensitive variety QS. Overall, this study confirmed the key role of drought-induced rhizosphere bacteria in improving the adaptation of alfalfa to drought stress, and clarified that this process is significantly related to the variety (genotype). The results of this study provide a basis for improving drought tolerance in alfalfa by regulating the rhizosphere microbiome.

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Project description:In order to clarify the molecular mechanisms of drought tolerance between different maize (Zea mays L.) varieties at the protein level, iTRAQ (the isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation) quantitative proteomics were used for the comparative analysis of protein expression in the seedling roots of the drought-tolerant Chang 7-2 and drought-sensitive TS141 maize varieties under 20% PEG 6000 (polyethylene glycol 6000)-simulated drought stress. A total of 7723 proteins were identified using iTRAQ in the maize seedling roots. We detected 39371 peptides and 30148 unique peptides. The identified protein molecular mass was mainly distributed between 10–60 kDa. COG analysis divided these proteins into 24 categories, among which general function prediction contained the largest number of proteins (19.1%), followed by posttranslational modification, protein turnover, and chaperones (10.52%). In the identified differentially expressed proteins, 1552 of which were significantly differentially expressed. Of these, 1249 were differentially expressed in Chang 7-2 following drought stress, 577 of which were up-regulated and 672 were down-regulated. Four hundred and twenty five differentially expressed proteins were identified in TS141, 249 of which were up-regulated and 176 were down-regulated. Of these proteins, 32 demonstrated opposite expression levels in the two varieties, and there were 56 up-regulated proteins that were common between the two varieties. Comparing the Chang 7-2 treatment group and control group, the DEPS in the cellular component category were mainly enriched in cytoplasmic membrane-bounded vesicles, cytoplasmic vesicles, membrane-bound vesicles and vesicles; in the molecular function category, the DEPs were mainly enriched in cation binding and metal ion binding; and in the biological process category, the major enriched categories included phosphate-containing compound metabolic process, single-organism transport cellular component organization or biogenesis, carbohydrate metabolic process, and cellular component organization. Comparing the TS141 treatment group and control group, the DEPS in the cellular component category were primarily enriched in cytoplasmic membrane-bounded vesicles, cytoplasmic vesicles, membrane-bound vesicles, and vesicle; in the molecular function category, the DEPs were mainly enriched in cation binding and metal ion binding; and in the biological process category, the major enrichment categories included oxidation-reduction process and carbohydrate metabolic process. In Chang 7-2, the differentially expressed proteins were associated with ribosome pathway, glycolysis/gluconeogenesis pathway, and amino sugar and nucleotide sugar metabolism. In TS141, the differentially expressed proteins were associated with metabolic pathway, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathway, and starch and sucrose metabolism.

Dataset Information

Genetics and genomics of root system variation in adaptation to drought stress in cereal crops.

Publications

Genetics and genomics of root system variation in adaptation to drought stress in cereal crops.

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