Natural allelic variation of GVS1 confers diversity in the regulation of leaf senescence in Arabidopsis

Abstract

Summary Leaf senescence affects plant fitness. Plants that evolve in different environments are expected to acquire distinct regulations of leaf senescence. However, the adaptive and evolutionary roles of leaf senescence are largely unknown. We investigated leaf senescence in 259 natural accessions of Arabidopsis by quantitatively assaying dark‐induced senescence responses using a high‐throughput chlorophyll fluorescence imaging system. A meta‐analysis of our data with phenotypic and climatic information demonstrated biological and environmental links with leaf senescence. We further performed genome‐wide association mapping to identify the genetic loci underlying the diversity of leaf senescence responses. We uncovered a new locus, Genetic Variants in leaf Senescence (GVS1), with high similarity to reductase, where a single nonsynonymous nucleotide substitution at GVS1 mediates the diversity of the senescence trait. Loss‐of‐function mutations of GVS1 in Columbia‐0 delayed leaf senescence and increased sensitivity to oxidative stress, suggesting that this GVS1 variant promotes optimal responses to developmental and environmental signals. Intriguingly, gvs1 loss‐of‐function mutants display allele‐ and accession‐dependent phenotypes, revealing the functional diversity of GVS1 alleles not only in leaf senescence, but also oxidative stress. Our discovery of GVS1 as the genetic basis of natural variation in senescence programs reinforces its adaptive potential in modulating life histories across diverse environments.

Can chlorophyll fluorescence imaging make the invisible visible?

“…Recently, a new Chl-FI approach using structured illumination coupled with a proposed automated method for correcting vignetting of Chl fluorescence images is discussed by Lu and Lu (2020). They applied this new approach for the detection of chilling injury in cucumbers.…”

ACCELERATED CELL DEATH 6 Acts on Natural Leaf Senescence and Nitrogen Fluxes in Arabidopsis

“…With this aim, studies have been conducted in Arabidopsis, highlighting strong variation in the onset, progression, and intensity of senescence in accessions from different geographic origins (Levey and Wingler, 2005;Luquez et al, 2006;Balazadeh et al, 2008). The genetic basis of this variation was investigated in Arabidopsis using recombinant inbred line (RIL) or genomewide association (GWA) populations for quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis (Diaz et al, 2006;Luquez et al, 2006;Masclaux-Daubresse et al, 2007;Wingler et al, 2010;Chardon et al, 2014;Lyu et al, 2019). Similar strategies based on the natural variation were carried out to study leaf senescence in various crops such as rice, wheat, sorghum maize, and barley (Wehner et al, 2015;Kamal et al, 2019;Sekhon et al, 2019;Zhao et al, 2019).…”

“…Similar strategies based on the natural variation were carried out to study leaf senescence in various crops such as rice, wheat, sorghum maize, and barley (Wehner et al, 2015;Kamal et al, 2019;Sekhon et al, 2019;Zhao et al, 2019). Recently, the investigation of 259 natural Arabidopsis accessions in a GWA study allowed the identification of a new leaf senescence regulator, Genetic Variants in Leaf Senescence 1 (GVS1; Lyu et al, 2019). Interestingly, GVS1 is also involved in sensitivity to oxidative stress (Lyu et al, 2019), suggesting a link between leaf senescence and oxidative stress.…”

“…Recently, the investigation of 259 natural Arabidopsis accessions in a GWA study allowed the identification of a new leaf senescence regulator, Genetic Variants in Leaf Senescence 1 (GVS1; Lyu et al, 2019). Interestingly, GVS1 is also involved in sensitivity to oxidative stress (Lyu et al, 2019), suggesting a link between leaf senescence and oxidative stress. In nature, plants are challenged by many biotic and abiotic stresses, which generate reactive oxygen species and consequently oxidative stress damages.…”

Negative Regulation of Age-Related Developmental Leaf Senescence by the IAOx Pathway, PEN1, and PEN3

“…Solid lines represent established steps while dotted lines represent proposed steps. Colored text represents genes showing up or down trends as determined by microarray or RNA-seq (Breeze et al, 2011; Brusslan et al, 2015; Lyu et al, 2018). Gene expression in the phytoalexin ( de novo ) pathway is mostly up-regulated, gene expression in the IG phytoanticipin pathway is unchanged, while gene expression in the main IAA pathway is mostly down-regulated.…”