Manipulating resource allocation in plants

Abstract

The distribution of nutrients and assimilates in different organs and tissues is in a constant state of flux throughout the growth and development of a plant. At key stages during the life cycle profound changes occur, and perhaps one of the most critical of these is during seed filling. By restricting the competition for reserves in Arabidopsis plants, the ability to manipulate seed size, seed weight, or seed content has been explored. Removal of secondary inflorescences and lateral branches resulted in a stimulation of elongation of the primary inflorescence and an increase in the distance between siliques. The pruning treatment also led to the development of longer and larger siliques that contained fewer, bigger seeds. This seems to be a consequence of a reduction in the number of ovules that develop and an increase in the fatty acid content of the seeds that mature. The data show that shoot architecture could have a substantial impact on the partitioning of reserves between vegetative and reproductive tissues and could be an important trait for selection in rapid phenotyping screens to optimize crop performance.

The Genetic Basis of Natural Variation in Seed Size and Seed Number and Their Trade-Off Using Arabidopsis thaliana MAGIC Lines

“…With many competing allocations within the organism, trade-offs may arise not just between seed size and seed number, but also with other competing sources such as defense against biotic and abiotic stress (Bazzaz et al 1987;Züst et al 2011;Wituszyńska et al 2013). Alternatively, the expression of the trade-off might be dependent on the level of resources available (Noordwijk and Jong 1986;Venable 1992;Bennett et al 2012 It is important to determine the existence and mechanism behind trade-offs, because environmentally caused trade-offs can be modified by selection or genetic manipulation. However, for trade-offs that result from genetic pleiotropy or linkage disequilibrium, responses to selection will be constrained (Lande and Arnold 1983;Roff and Fairbairn 2007;Latta and Gardner 2009).…”

“…With many competing allocations within the organism, trade-offs may arise not just between seed size and seed number, but also with other competing sources such as defense against biotic and abiotic stress (Bazzaz et al 1987;Züst et al 2011;Wituszyńska et al 2013). Alternatively, the expression of the trade-off might be dependent on the level of resources available (Noordwijk and Jong 1986;Venable 1992;Bennett et al 2012). Variation in life-history is common within populations; and typically, later flowering plants are larger and have more resources to invest in reproduction, reducing the expression of trade-offs (Aarssen and Clauss 1992;Clauss and Aarssen 1994;Jakobsson and Eriksson 2000;Mendez-Vigo et al 2013).…”

Factors Affecting to Allocation in Plants

“…Çünkü reprodüktif allokasyon stratejisi özellikle istilacı türlerin, değişen çevreye uyum sağlamasında anahtar rol oynar (Wang et al, 2017). Uygun allokasyon modeli sayesinde bitki, genetik olarak belirlenmiş yetenekleriyle çevreye verdiği cevabı en uygun duruma getirmeye çalışır ve üreme potansiyelini en üst düzeye çıkararak gelecek neslin üremesi ve hayatta kalmasını da garantiye alır (Bennett et al, 2012).…”

“…Örneğin, tek yıllık otsu bir tür olan Arabis in üreme propagülü, <1 mg ağırlığında bir tohum; oysa bir hindistancevizi meyvesi tipik olarak >1 kg ağırlığındadır. Bu nedenle bitkiler üreme potansiyellerini en iyi duruma getirmek için, besin maddelerini kaynaklardan ihtiyaç duyulan organlarına oldukça iyi düzenlenmiş bir allokasyon modeliyle mobilize etmelidirler (Bennett et al,, 2012).…”

“…(Bennett et al, 2012;Ludewig and Flügge, 2013). Sınırlı olması nedeniyle bitkilerde, bir fonksiyon için gerekli kaynağın taşınması, diğer bir fonksiyon için kaynak aktarımının azalmasına yol açar.…”