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Response to extended drought stress and recovery involve epigenetic control of stress adaptation and flowering regulation in Zea mays

ABSTRACT: During their lifespan, plants continuously respond to a multitude of stressful factors that affects their development and reproductive fitness through a sophisticated variety of physiological, biochemical, transcriptional, and epigenetic mechanisms. Dynamic changes in chromatin structure and concomitant transcriptional variations play an important role in both stress response and adaptation. Epigenetic memory mechanisms seem to be involved because chromatin and expression patterns can be indeed stably maintained during cell division, once the triggering stimulus has been removed. In this study we performed transcriptome and genome-wide analysis of histone modifications of maize plants subjected to a mild and prolonged drought stress followed by a complete recovery phase. Results led to the identification of stress-responsive genes in which variations in transcript and/or histone modification levels persist after stress removal. Genes not showing an immediate response to stress, but perceiving and storing stress signal for a delayed response were also identified. This provides valuable information about genes and mechanisms utilized by plants to adapt to stressful environment and potentially involved in stress memory. We also report that drought stress alters flowering and inflorescences patterning, possibly by affecting expression and chromatin of flowering regulatory genes.

ORGANISM(S): Zea mays

PROVIDER: GSE128002 | GEO | 2019/10/02

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Response to extended drought stress and recovery involve epigenetic control of stress adaptation and flowering regulation in Zea mays

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