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Dissecting the Genetics of Early Vigour to Design Drought-Adapted Wheat.

ABSTRACT: Due to the climate change and an increased frequency of drought, it is of enormous importance to identify and to develop traits that result in adaptation and in improvement of crop yield stability in drought-prone regions with low rainfall. Early vigour, defined as the rapid development of leaf area in early developmental stages, is reported to contribute to stronger plant vitality, which, in turn, can enhance resilience to erratic drought periods. Furthermore, early vigour improves weed competitiveness and nutrient uptake. Here, two sets of a multi-reference nested association mapping (MR-NAM) population of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum ssp. aestivum L.) were used to investigate early vigour in a rain-fed field environment for 3 years, and additionally assessed under controlled conditions in a greenhouse experiment. The normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) calculated from red/infrared light reflectance was used to quantify early vigour in the field, revealing a correlation (p < 0.05; r = 0.39) between the spectral measurement and the length of the second leaf. Under controlled environmental conditions, the measured projected leaf area, using a green-pixel counter, was also correlated to the leaf area of the second leaf (p < 0.05; r = 0.38), as well as to the recorded biomass (p < 0.01; r = 0.71). Subsequently, genetic determination of early vigour was tested by conducting a genome-wide association study (GWAS) for the proxy traits, revealing 42 markers associated with vegetation index and two markers associated with projected leaf area. There are several quantitative trait loci that are collocated with loci for plant developmental traits including plant height on chromosome 2D (log₁₀ (P) = 3.19; PVE = 0.035), coleoptile length on chromosome 1B (-log₁₀ (P) = 3.24; PVE = 0.112), as well as stay-green and vernalisation on chromosome 5A (-log₁₀ (P) = 3.14; PVE = 0.115).

SUBMITTER: Vukasovic S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8763316 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Background and aimsThe gibberellin-insensitive Rht-B1b and Rht-D1b dwarfing genes are known to reduce the size of cells in culms, leaves and coleoptiles of wheat. Resulting leaf area development of gibberellin-insensitive wheats is poor compared to standard height (Rht-B1a and Rht-D1a) genotypes. Alternative dwarfing genes to Rht-B1b and Rht-D1b are available that reduce plant height, such as the gibberellin-responsive Rht8 gene. This study aims to investigate if Rht8 has a similar dwarfing effect on the size of leaf cells to reduce leaf area.MethodsThe effect of Rht8 on cell size and leaf area was assessed in four types of epidermal cells (interstomatal, long, sister and bulliform) measured on leaf 2 of standard height (rht8) and semi-dwarf (Rht8) doubled-haploid lines (DHLs). The DHLs were derived from a cross between very vigorous, standard height (rht8) ('Vigour18') and less vigorous, semi-dwarf (Rht8) ('Chuan-Mai 18') parents.Key resultsLarge differences were observed in seedling vigour between the parents, where 'Vigour18' had a much greater plant leaf area than 'Chuan-Mai 18'. Accordingly, 'Vigour18' had on average longer, wider and more epidermal cells and cell files than 'Chuan-Mai 18'. Although there was correspondingly large genotypic variation among DHLs for these traits, the contrast between semi-dwarf Rht8 and tall rht8 DHLs revealed no difference in the size of leaf 2 or average cell characteristics. Hence, these traits were independent of plant height and therefore Rht8 in the DHLs. Correlations for leaf and average cell size across DHLs revealed a strong and positive relationship between leaf width and cell files, while the relationships between leaf and cell width, and leaf and cell length were not statistically different. The relative contribution of the four cell types (long, sister, interstomatal and bulliform) to leaf size in the parents, comparative controls and DHLs is discussed.ConclusionsDespite a large range in early vigour among the DHLs, none of the DHLs attained the leaf area or epidermal cell size and numbers of the vigorous rht8 parent. Nonetheless, the potential exists to increase the early vigour of semi-dwarf wheats by using GA-sensitive dwarfing genes such as Rht8.

Project description:Wheat cultivars 'TAM 111' and 'TAM 112' have been dominantly grown in the Southern U.S. Great Plains for many years due to their high yield and drought tolerance. To identify the molecular basis and genetic control of drought tolerance in these two landmark cultivars, RNA-seq analysis was conducted to compare gene expression difference in flag leaves under fully irrigated (wet) and water deficient (dry) conditions. A total of 2254 genes showed significantly altered expression patterns under dry and wet conditions in the two cultivars. TAM 111 had 593 and 1532 dry-wet differentially expressed genes (DEGs), and TAM 112 had 777 and 1670 at heading and grain-filling stages, respectively. The two cultivars have 1214 (53.9%) dry-wet DEGs in common, which agreed with their excellent adaption to drought, but 438 and 602 dry-wet DEGs were respectively shown only in TAM 111 and TAM 112 suggested that each has a specific mechanism to cope with drought. Annotations of all 2254 genes showed 1855 have functions related to biosynthesis, stress responses, defense responses, transcription factors and cellular components related to ion or protein transportation and signal transduction. Comparing hierarchical structure of biological processes, molecule functions and cellular components revealed the significant regulation differences between TAM 111 and TAM 112, particularly for genes of phosphorylation and adenyl ribonucleotide binding, and proteins located in nucleus and plasma membrane. TAM 112 showed more active than TAM 111 in response to drought and carried more specific genes with most of them were up-regulated in responses to stresses of water deprivation, heat and oxidative, ABA-induced signal pathway and transcription regulation. In addition, 258 genes encoding predicted uncharacterized proteins and 141 unannotated genes with no similar sequences identified in the databases may represent novel genes related to drought response in TAM 111 or TAM 112. This research thus revealed different drought-tolerance mechanisms in TAM 111 and TAM 112 and identified useful drought tolerance genes for wheat adaption. Data of gene sequence and expression regulation from this study also provided useful information of annotating novel genes associated with drought tolerance in the wheat genome.

Project description:To better undersand the effects of drought stress on wheat developing seeds, the transcription profile of early developing wheat seeds under control and drought stress conditions were comparatively analyzed by using the Affymetrix wheat geneChip. Drought stress is a major yield-limiting factor for wheat. Wheat yields are particularly sensitive to drought stress during reproductive development. Early seed development stage is an important determinant of seed size, one of the yield components. We specifically examined the impact of drought stress imposed during postzygotic early seed development in wheat. We imposed a short-term drought stress on plants with day-old seeds and observed that even a short-duration drought stress significantly reduced the size of developing seeds as well as mature seeds. Drought stress delayed the developmental transition from syncytial to cellularized stage of endosperm. Coincident with reduced seed size and delayed endosperm development, a subset of genes associated with cytoskeleton organization was misregulated in developing seeds under drought-stressed. Several genes linked to hormone pathways were also differentially regulated in response to drought stress in early seeds. Notably, drought stress strongly repressed the expression of wheat storage protein genes such as gliadins, glutenins and avenins as early as 3 days after pollination. Our results provide new insights on how some of the early seed developmental events are impacted by water stress, and the underlying molecular pathways that can possibly impact both grain size and quality in wheat. Winter wheat cultivar Redland, PI 502907 (Triticum aestivum L.) was used for this study. Seedlings were vernalized at 4°C for 6 weeks and then transplanted to a one gallon pot of soil-sand mixture (3:1, v/v) and grown in a growth chamber under the following conditions: relative humidity, 50–70%; 16-h light/8-h dark photoperiod; 21°C daytime temperature and 18°C nights. Plants were watered regularly twice daily at the rate of 100ml/ per pot. Because, wheat has an asynchronous fertilization pattern for ovlues in the inflorescence, each floret needs to be specifically marked for timing the fertilization and stress induction. After spikes developed, unfertilized ovules were monitored and observed for the fertilization process. Closed wheat spikes with anthers outside were marked as fertilized. Drought stress was imposed 24h after the fertilization (HAF). Drought stress treatment was initiated by discontinuing watering on the drought treatment plants while control plants were regularly watered twice daily. Stress treatment was applied at 48 HAF and relieved at 96 HAF. The microarray study focuses on 24 HAF to 72 HAF in control and drought stress conditions. We started to impose drought stress 24HAF.

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Dissecting the Genetics of Early Vigour to Design Drought-Adapted Wheat.

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