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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
agricultural and biological sciences
Effects of drought on gene expression in maize reproductive and leaf meristem tissue revealed by RNA-Seq
Plant Physiology, Volume 160, No. 2, Year 2012
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Description
Drought stress affects cereals especially during the reproductive stage. The maize (Zea mays) drought transcriptome was studied using RNA-Seq analysis to compare drought-treated and well-watered fertilized ovary and basal leaf meristem tissue. More drought-responsive genes responded in the ovary compared with the leaf meristem. Gene Ontology enrichment analysis revealed a massive decrease in transcript abundance of cell division and cell cycle genes in the drought-stressed ovary only. Among Gene Ontology categories related to carbohydrate metabolism, changes in starch and Suc metabolism-related genes occurred in the ovary, consistent with a decrease in starch levels, and in Suc transporter function, with no comparable changes occurring in the leaf meristem. Abscisic acid (ABA)-related processes responded positively, but only in the ovaries. Related responses suggested the operation of low glucose sensing in drought-stressed ovaries. The data are discussed in the context of the susceptibility of maize kernel to drought stress leading to embryo abortion and the relative robustness of dividing vegetative tissue taken at the same time from the same plant subjected to the same conditions. Our working hypothesis involves signaling events associated with increased ABA levels, decreased glucose levels, disruption of ABA/sugar signaling, activation of programmed cell death/senescence through repression of a phospholipase C-mediated signaling pathway, and arrest of the cell cycle in the stressed ovary at 1 d after pollination. Increased invertase levels in the stressed leaf meristem, on the other hand, resulted in that tissue maintaining hexose levels at an "unstressed" level, and at lower ABA levels, which was correlated with successful resistance to drought stress. © 2012 American Society of Plant Biologists. All Rights Reserved.
Authors & Co-Authors
Kakumanu, Akshay
United States, Blacksburg
Biocomplexity Institute of Virginia Tech
United States, Blacksburg
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Ambavaram, Madana M.R.
United States, Blacksburg
Biocomplexity Institute of Virginia Tech
United States, Woburn
Yield10 Bioscience, Inc.
Botswana, Gaborone
Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Klumas, Curtis
United States, Woburn
Yield10 Bioscience, Inc.
Krishnan, Arjun
United States, Blacksburg
Biocomplexity Institute of Virginia Tech
United States, Blacksburg
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Batlang, Utlwang
United States, Blacksburg
Biocomplexity Institute of Virginia Tech
United States, Fayetteville
University of Arkansas
Myers, Elijah
United States, Woburn
Yield10 Bioscience, Inc.
Grene, Ruth
United States, Blacksburg
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Pereira, Andy
United States, Princeton
Princeton University
Statistics
Citations: 303
Authors: 8
Affiliations: 6
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1104/pp.112.200444
ISSN:
00320889
e-ISSN:
15322548
Research Areas
Genetics And Genomics
Sexual And Reproductive Health