Drought resistance is mediated by divergent strategies in closely related Brassicaceae

Abstract

Summary Droughts cause severe crop losses worldwide and climate change is projected to increase their prevalence in the future. Similar to the situation for many crops, the reference plant Arabidopsis thaliana (Ath) is considered drought‐sensitive, whereas, as we demonstrate, its close relatives Arabidopsis lyrata (Aly) and Eutrema salsugineum (Esa) are drought‐resistant. To understand the molecular basis for this plasticity we conducted a deep phenotypic, biochemical and transcriptomic comparison using developmentally matched plants. We demonstrate that Aly responds most sensitively to decreasing water availability with early growth reduction, metabolic adaptations and signaling network rewiring. By contrast, Esa is in a constantly prepared mode as evidenced by high basal proline levels, ABA signaling transcripts and late growth responses. The stress‐sensitive Ath responds later than Aly and earlier than Esa, although its responses tend to be more extreme. All species detect water scarcity with similar sensitivity; response differences are encoded in downstream signaling and response networks. Moreover, several signaling genes expressed at higher basal levels in both Aly and Esa have been shown to increase water‐use efficiency and drought resistance when overexpressed in Ath. Our data demonstrate contrasting strategies of closely related Brassicaceae to achieve drought resistance.

Bumblebee Behavior on Flowers, but Not Initial Attraction, Is Altered by Short-Term Drought Stress

“…Sinapis arvensis plants are able to grow and flower under our drought treatment. In congruence with other studies ( Chaves et al, 2003 ; Burkle and Runyon, 2016 ; Kahl et al, 2019 ; La Rosa et al, 2019 ), our drought-stressed plants grow less than the daily watered control plants. However, we have found that flower size did not decrease as has commonly been observed ( Carroll et al, 2001 ; Halpern et al, 2010 ; Burkle and Runyon, 2016 ) for plant species with similar moisture value to ours ( Ellenberg et al, 1992 ).…”

“…With changing climate, drought periods and temperatures will increase ( Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC], 2014 ), leading to reduced soil water levels, and might lead to physiological stress in plants ( Beier et al, 2012 ). Abiotic stress is well-known to induce phenotypic changes in vegetative traits ( Cornwell and Ackerly, 2009 ; Jung et al, 2014 ; La Rosa et al, 2019 ) but can also affect floral development and production, resulting in phenotypic alterations in flowers ( Galen, 2000 ; Strauss and Witthall, 2006 ; Descamps et al, 2018 ). Such changes in floral trait expression can alter trait-mediated flower-visitor interactions and behavior, as flower visitors are able to notice and respond to small intraspecific differences in floral phenotypes within one species ( Thomson et al, 1982 ; Conner and Rush, 1996 ; Mothershead and Marquis, 2000 ; Kuppler et al, 2016 ).…”

Transcriptome changes induced by drought stress in Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus L.) and weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA)

“…The comprehensive analysis of the transcriptome helps to understand the expression and regulatory mechanism of genes in plant systems. Currently, the application of transcriptome technology to the research of multiple species has advanced substantially [19][20][21][22]. In this study, RNA-Seq was used to conduct a transcriptome analysis on two Jerusalem artichoke varieties after drought stress treatment and compare the changes of gene expression in plants after drought stress treatment and a control of water treatment.…”

Drought Resistance by Engineering Plant Tissue-Specific Responses

“…In parallel, the advent of high-throughput plant phenotyping (HTPP) platforms and the establishment of research infrastructure networks like the EPPN2020 (https:// eppn2020.plant-phenotyping.eu/) will definitively help to increase and improve the reproducibility and quality and quantity of data from drought adaptation studies. HTPP for drought responses has been implemented for Arabidopsis (Granier et al, 2006;Jansen et al, 2009;Skirycz et al, 2011;Fujita et al, 2018) and applied to drought research (Rosa et al, 2019). Outdoor or greenhouse HTPP facilities to study drought performances are being developed for crops (Fahlgren et al, 2015).…”