Molecular and physiological analysis of growth-limiting drought stress in Brachypodium distachyon leaves

The drought-tolerant grass Brachypodium distachyon is an emerging model species for temperate grasses and cereal crops. To explore the usefulness of this species for drought studies, a reproducible in vivo drought assa y was developed. Spontaneous soil drying led to a 45% reduction in leaf size, and this was mostly due to a decrease in cell expansion, whereas cell division remained largely unaffected by drought. To investigate the molecular basis of the observed leaf growth reduction, the third Brachypodium leaf was dissected in three zones, n amely proliferation, expansion, and mature zones, and subjected to transcriptome analysis, based on a whole-genome tiling array. This approach allowed us to highligh t that transcriptome profiles of different developmental leaf zones respond differently to drought. Several genes and functional processes involved in drought tolera nce were identified. The transcriptome data suggest an increased energy availability in the proliferation zones, along with an upregulation of sterol synthesis that may influence membrane fluidity. This information may be used to improve the tolerance of temperate cereals to drought, which is undoubtedly one of the major environ mental challenges faced by agriculture today and in the near future.

Verelst, W., Bertolini, E., De Bodt, S., Vandepoele, K., Demeulenaere, M., Enrico Pe, M., Inzé, D. (2012) Molecular and physiological analysis of growth-limiting drought stress in Brachypodium distachyon leaves. Molecular Plant 6(2):311-22.









Contact:
VIB / UGent
Bioinformatics & Evolutionary Genomics
Technologiepark 927
B-9052 Gent
BELGIUM
+32 (0) 9 33 13807 (phone)
+32 (0) 9 33 13809 (fax)

Don't hesitate to contact the in case of problems with the website!

You are visiting an outdated page of the BEG/Van de Peer Lab site.

Not all pages have been ported, so these archived pages are still available.

Redirect to the new website?