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Sharma N, Raman H, Wheeler D, Kalenahalli Y, Sharma R. Data-driven approaches to improve water-use efficiency and drought resistance in crop plants. PLANT SCIENCE : AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PLANT BIOLOGY 2023; 336:111852. [PMID: 37659733 DOI: 10.1016/j.plantsci.2023.111852] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2022] [Revised: 08/23/2023] [Accepted: 08/29/2023] [Indexed: 09/04/2023]
Abstract
With the increasing population, there lies a pressing demand for food, feed and fibre, while the changing climatic conditions pose severe challenges for agricultural production worldwide. Water is the lifeline for crop production; thus, enhancing crop water-use efficiency (WUE) and improving drought resistance in crop varieties are crucial for overcoming these challenges. Genetically-driven improvements in yield, WUE and drought tolerance traits can buffer the worst effects of climate change on crop production in dry areas. While traditional crop breeding approaches have delivered impressive results in increasing yield, the methods remain time-consuming and are often limited by the existing allelic variation present in the germplasm. Significant advances in breeding and high-throughput omics technologies in parallel with smart agriculture practices have created avenues to dramatically speed up the process of trait improvement by leveraging the vast volumes of genomic and phenotypic data. For example, individual genome and pan-genome assemblies, along with transcriptomic, metabolomic and proteomic data from germplasm collections, characterised at phenotypic levels, could be utilised to identify marker-trait associations and superior haplotypes for crop genetic improvement. In addition, these omics approaches enable the identification of genes involved in pathways leading to the expression of a trait, thereby providing an understanding of the genetic, physiological and biochemical basis of trait variation. These data-driven gene discoveries and validation approaches are essential for crop improvement pipelines, including genomic breeding, speed breeding and gene editing. Herein, we provide an overview of prospects presented using big data-driven approaches (including artificial intelligence and machine learning) to harness new genetic gains for breeding programs and develop drought-tolerant crop varieties with favourable WUE and high-yield potential traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Niharika Sharma
- NSW Department of Primary Industries, Orange Agricultural Institute, Orange, NSW 2800, Australia.
| | - Harsh Raman
- NSW Department of Primary Industries, Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650, Australia
| | - David Wheeler
- NSW Department of Primary Industries, Orange Agricultural Institute, Orange, NSW 2800, Australia
| | - Yogendra Kalenahalli
- International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru, Hyderabad, Telangana 502324, India
| | - Rita Sharma
- Department of Biological Sciences, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus, Rajasthan 333031, India
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Song M, Hu N, Zhou S, Xie S, Yang J, Ma W, Teng Z, Liang W, Wang C, Bu M, Zhang S, Yang X, He D. Physiological and RNA-Seq Analyses on Exogenous Strigolactones Alleviating Drought by Improving Antioxidation and Photosynthesis in Wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.). Antioxidants (Basel) 2023; 12:1884. [PMID: 37891963 PMCID: PMC10604895 DOI: 10.3390/antiox12101884] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2023] [Revised: 10/10/2023] [Accepted: 10/16/2023] [Indexed: 10/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Drought poses a significant challenge to global wheat production, and the application of exogenous phytohormones offers a convenient approach to enhancing drought tolerance of wheat. However, little is known about the molecular mechanism by which strigolactones (SLs), newly discovered phytohormones, alleviate drought stress in wheat. Therefore, this study is aimed at elucidating the physiological and molecular mechanisms operating in wheat and gaining insights into the specific role of SLs in ameliorating responses to the stress. The results showed that SLs application upregulated the expression of genes associated with the antioxidant defense system (Fe/Mn-SOD, PER1, PER22, SPC4, CAT2, APX1, APX7, GSTU6, GST4, GOR, GRXC1, and GRXC15), chlorophyll biogenesis (CHLH, and CPX), light-harvesting chlorophyll A-B binding proteins (WHAB1.6, and LHC Ib-21), electron transfer (PNSL2), E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase (BB, CHIP, and RHY1A), heat stress transcription factor (HSFA1, HSFA4D, and HSFC2B), heat shock proteins (HSP23.2, HSP16.9A, HSP17.9A, HSP21, HSP70, HSP70-16, HSP70-17, HSP70-8, HSP90-5, and HSP90-6), DnaJ family members (ATJ1, ATJ3, and DJA6), as well as other chaperones (BAG1, CIP73, CIPB1, and CPN60I). but the expression level of genes involved in chlorophyll degradation (SGR, NOL, PPH, PAO, TIC55, and PTC52) as well as photorespiration (AGT2) was found to be downregulated by SLs priming. As a result, the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT) were enhanced, and chlorophyll content and photosynthetic rate were increased, which indicated the alleviation of drought stress in wheat. These findings demonstrated that SLs alleviate drought stress by promoting photosynthesis through enhancing chlorophyll levels, and by facilitating ROS scavenging through modulation of the antioxidant system. The study advances understandings of the molecular mechanism underlying SLs-mediated drought alleviation and provides valuable insights for implementing sustainable farming practice under water restriction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miao Song
- College of Agronomy, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China; (M.S.); (N.H.); (S.Z.); (S.X.); (J.Y.); (W.M.); (Z.T.); (W.L.); (C.W.); (M.B.); (S.Z.)
- Co-Construction State Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, Zhengzhou 450046, China
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Henan Grain Crops, Zhengzhou 450046, China
| | - Naiyue Hu
- College of Agronomy, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China; (M.S.); (N.H.); (S.Z.); (S.X.); (J.Y.); (W.M.); (Z.T.); (W.L.); (C.W.); (M.B.); (S.Z.)
- Co-Construction State Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, Zhengzhou 450046, China
| | - Sumei Zhou
- College of Agronomy, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China; (M.S.); (N.H.); (S.Z.); (S.X.); (J.Y.); (W.M.); (Z.T.); (W.L.); (C.W.); (M.B.); (S.Z.)
- Co-Construction State Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, Zhengzhou 450046, China
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Henan Grain Crops, Zhengzhou 450046, China
| | - Songxin Xie
- College of Agronomy, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China; (M.S.); (N.H.); (S.Z.); (S.X.); (J.Y.); (W.M.); (Z.T.); (W.L.); (C.W.); (M.B.); (S.Z.)
- Co-Construction State Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, Zhengzhou 450046, China
| | - Jian Yang
- College of Agronomy, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China; (M.S.); (N.H.); (S.Z.); (S.X.); (J.Y.); (W.M.); (Z.T.); (W.L.); (C.W.); (M.B.); (S.Z.)
- Co-Construction State Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, Zhengzhou 450046, China
| | - Wenqi Ma
- College of Agronomy, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China; (M.S.); (N.H.); (S.Z.); (S.X.); (J.Y.); (W.M.); (Z.T.); (W.L.); (C.W.); (M.B.); (S.Z.)
- Co-Construction State Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, Zhengzhou 450046, China
| | - Zhengkai Teng
- College of Agronomy, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China; (M.S.); (N.H.); (S.Z.); (S.X.); (J.Y.); (W.M.); (Z.T.); (W.L.); (C.W.); (M.B.); (S.Z.)
- Co-Construction State Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, Zhengzhou 450046, China
| | - Wenxian Liang
- College of Agronomy, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China; (M.S.); (N.H.); (S.Z.); (S.X.); (J.Y.); (W.M.); (Z.T.); (W.L.); (C.W.); (M.B.); (S.Z.)
- Co-Construction State Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, Zhengzhou 450046, China
| | - Chunyan Wang
- College of Agronomy, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China; (M.S.); (N.H.); (S.Z.); (S.X.); (J.Y.); (W.M.); (Z.T.); (W.L.); (C.W.); (M.B.); (S.Z.)
- Co-Construction State Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, Zhengzhou 450046, China
| | - Mingna Bu
- College of Agronomy, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China; (M.S.); (N.H.); (S.Z.); (S.X.); (J.Y.); (W.M.); (Z.T.); (W.L.); (C.W.); (M.B.); (S.Z.)
- Co-Construction State Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, Zhengzhou 450046, China
| | - Shuo Zhang
- College of Agronomy, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China; (M.S.); (N.H.); (S.Z.); (S.X.); (J.Y.); (W.M.); (Z.T.); (W.L.); (C.W.); (M.B.); (S.Z.)
- Co-Construction State Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, Zhengzhou 450046, China
| | - Xiwen Yang
- College of Agronomy, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China; (M.S.); (N.H.); (S.Z.); (S.X.); (J.Y.); (W.M.); (Z.T.); (W.L.); (C.W.); (M.B.); (S.Z.)
- Co-Construction State Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, Zhengzhou 450046, China
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Henan Grain Crops, Zhengzhou 450046, China
| | - Dexian He
- College of Agronomy, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China; (M.S.); (N.H.); (S.Z.); (S.X.); (J.Y.); (W.M.); (Z.T.); (W.L.); (C.W.); (M.B.); (S.Z.)
- Co-Construction State Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, Zhengzhou 450046, China
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Henan Grain Crops, Zhengzhou 450046, China
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Moloi SJ, Ngara R. The roles of plant proteases and protease inhibitors in drought response: a review. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2023; 14:1165845. [PMID: 37143877 PMCID: PMC10151539 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1165845] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2023] [Accepted: 03/30/2023] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
Upon exposure to drought, plants undergo complex signal transduction events with concomitant changes in the expression of genes, proteins and metabolites. For example, proteomics studies continue to identify multitudes of drought-responsive proteins with diverse roles in drought adaptation. Among these are protein degradation processes that activate enzymes and signalling peptides, recycle nitrogen sources, and maintain protein turnover and homeostasis under stressful environments. Here, we review the differential expression and functional activities of plant protease and protease inhibitor proteins under drought stress, mainly focusing on comparative studies involving genotypes of contrasting drought phenotypes. We further explore studies of transgenic plants either overexpressing or repressing proteases or their inhibitors under drought conditions and discuss the potential roles of these transgenes in drought response. Overall, the review highlights the integral role of protein degradation during plant survival under water deficits, irrespective of the genotypes' level of drought resilience. However, drought-sensitive genotypes exhibit higher proteolytic activities, while drought-tolerant genotypes tend to protect proteins from degradation by expressing more protease inhibitors. In addition, transgenic plant biology studies implicate proteases and protease inhibitors in various other physiological functions under drought stress. These include the regulation of stomatal closure, maintenance of relative water content, phytohormonal signalling systems including abscisic acid (ABA) signalling, and the induction of ABA-related stress genes, all of which are essential for maintaining cellular homeostasis under water deficits. Therefore, more validation studies are required to explore the various functions of proteases and their inhibitors under water limitation and their contributions towards drought adaptation.
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