Individual Leaf Area of Early Flowering Arabidopsis Genotypes Is More Affected by Drought than Late Flowering Ones: A Multi-Scale Analysis in 35 Genetically Modified Lines

Abstract

Plants acclimate to drought optimizing the trade-off between biomass production and water loss while ensuring their survival and reproduction. Plants also modify their growth or phenology as complementary strategies in response to stress. Despite evidence of an interaction between flowering time and plant growth response to environmental stresses, this interaction in response to drought is under debate. To contribute to the analysis of this interaction, leaf growth of 35 genetically modified lines of Arabidopsis thaliana and their common wild-type, Col-0 was analyzed by a quantitative multi-scale phenotyping approach from cellular to whole plant scale both in wellwatered and soil moderate water deficit conditions. These genotypes were selected for the various physiological functions potentially altered by their genetic modification and that could interact with plant growth and/or their drought responses. In all genotypes, leaf expansion decreased in response to drought both at the whole rosette and the individual leaf levels. Additionally, epidermal cell area and/or epidermal cell number decreased in response to the drought treatment. In contrast, the number of rosette leaves was reduced in only half of the genotypes and leaf growth duration was only modified in 4 of them. Despite long photoperiod conditions, the duration of the vegetative phase, i.e. the time elapsed between germination and flowering stage, varied from 12 to 27 days among genotypes under well watered conditions. Our analyses revealed that the differences of flowering time observed in well-watered condition impacted the leaf area response to drought. Early-flowering genotypes slightly decreased their final leaf number, but strongly reduced their

Genome‐wide association mapping of time‐dependent growth responses to moderate drought stress in Arabidopsis

“…In a set of 35 genetically modified A. thaliana lines impaired in different functional pathways including carbohydrate metabolism, circadian clock, signalling or hormonal status, individual leaf area of early flowering genotypes was more affected by drought than late flowering ones (Massonnet et al . ). In our experiment, late flowering accessions were smaller than early flowering ones, independent of the conditions.…”

“…; Massonnet et al . ). However, both our mapping results (moderate association) and the mapping results of McKay et al .…”

Differences in water deficit adaptation during early growth of Brazilian dry forest Caatinga trees

“…In the same study, the authors verified leaf abscission in E. contortisiliquum, as reported in both species in our experiment. The availability of water in the environment determines the leaf area of a plant (Baerenfaller et al 2012, Massonnet et al 2015, inducing larger areas in humid and smaller in arid environments. This feature is an important defence mechanism against excessive water loss; reduced leaf area is xeromorphic characteristic among the many that are identified in plants under water shortage conditions (Villagra and Cavagnaro 2006).…”

Superexpressão do gene dehidrina de Arachis duranensis em plantas transgênicas de Arabidopsis thaliana

“…Massonnet et al (2015) sugerem que, o tamanho da área da roseta varia menos sob condições de déficit hídrico em rosetas que naturalmente já são pequenas. De acordo com a Figura 18 é possível obsevar que a média das áreas foliares das rosetas não variavam significativamente antes do estresse, fato que, portanto, não influenciou nos resultados futuros em relação a área foliar.…”