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Drought resistance is mediated by divergent strategies in closely related Brassicaceae
Author(s) -
Marínde la Rosa Nora,
Lin ChungWen,
Kang Yang Jae,
Dhondt Stijn,
Gonzalez Nathalie,
Inzé Dirk,
FalterBraun Pascal
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
new phytologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.742
H-Index - 244
eISSN - 1469-8137
pISSN - 0028-646X
DOI - 10.1111/nph.15841
Subject(s) - brassicaceae , biology , arabidopsis , arabidopsis thaliana , drought tolerance , transcriptome , adaptation (eye) , phenotype , drought stress , drought resistance , gene , phenotypic plasticity , botany , mutant , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , gene expression , neuroscience
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.