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Aphalo PJ, Sadras VO. Explaining pre-emptive acclimation by linking information to plant phenotype. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY 2022; 73:5213-5234. [PMID: 34915559 PMCID: PMC9440433 DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erab537] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2018] [Accepted: 12/06/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
We review mechanisms for pre-emptive acclimation in plants and propose a conceptual model linking developmental and evolutionary ecology with the acquisition of information through sensing of cues and signals. The idea is that plants acquire much of the information in the environment not from individual cues and signals but instead from their joint multivariate properties such as correlations. If molecular signalling has evolved to extract such information, the joint multivariate properties of the environment must be encoded in the genome, epigenome, and phenome. We contend that multivariate complexity explains why extrapolating from experiments done in artificial contexts into natural or agricultural systems almost never works for characters under complex environmental regulation: biased relationships among the state variables in both time and space create a mismatch between the evolutionary history reflected in the genotype and the artificial growing conditions in which the phenotype is expressed. Our model can generate testable hypotheses bridging levels of organization. We describe the model and its theoretical bases, and discuss its implications. We illustrate the hypotheses that can be derived from the model in two cases of pre-emptive acclimation based on correlations in the environment: the shade avoidance response and acclimation to drought.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Victor O Sadras
- South Australian Research and Development Institute, and School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, The University of Adelaide, Australia
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Raineri J, Caraballo L, Rigalli N, Portapila M, Otegui ME, Chan RL. Expressing the sunflower transcription factor HaHB11 in maize improves waterlogging and defoliation tolerance. PLANT PHYSIOLOGY 2022; 189:230-247. [PMID: 35148415 PMCID: PMC9070847 DOI: 10.1093/plphys/kiac054] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2022] [Accepted: 01/17/2022] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
The sunflower (Helianthus annuus) transcription factor HaHB11 (H. annuus Homeobox 11) belongs to the homeodomain-leucine zipper family and confers improved yield to maize (Zea mays) hybrids (HiII × B73) and lines. Here we report that transgenic maize lines expressing HaHB11 exhibited better performance under waterlogging, both in greenhouse and field trials carried out during three growth cycles. Transgenic plants had increased chlorophyll content, wider stems, more nodal roots, greater total aerial biomass, a higher harvest index, and increased plant grain yield. Under severe defoliation caused by a windstorm during flowering, transgenic genotypes were able to set more grains than controls. This response was confirmed in controlled defoliation assays. Hybrids generated by crossing B73 HaHB11 lines with the contrasting Mo17 lines were also tested in the field and exhibited the same beneficial traits as the parental lines, compared with their respective controls. Moreover, they were less penalized by stress than commercial hybrids. Waterlogging tolerance increased via improvement of the root system, including more xylem vessels, reduced tissue damage, less superoxide accumulation, and altered carbohydrate metabolism. Multivariate analyses corroborated the robustness of the differential traits observed. Furthermore, canopy spectral reflectance data, computing 29 vegetation indices associated with biomass, chlorophyll, and abiotic stress, helped to distinguish genotypes as well as their growing conditions. Altogether the results reported here indicate that this sunflower gene constitutes a suitable tool to improve maize plants for environments prone to waterlogging and/or wind defoliation.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Nicolás Rigalli
- CIFASIS, Universidad Nacional de Rosario—CONICET, Santa Fe 2000, Argentina
| | | | - María Elena Otegui
- Facultad de Agronomía, CONICET-INTA-FAUBA, Estación experimental Pergamino, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires C1417DSE, Argentina
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Kerchev PI, Van Breusegem F. Improving oxidative stress resilience in plants. THE PLANT JOURNAL : FOR CELL AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2022; 109:359-372. [PMID: 34519111 DOI: 10.1111/tpj.15493] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2021] [Revised: 09/02/2021] [Accepted: 09/08/2021] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
Originally conceived as harmful metabolic byproducts, reactive oxygen species (ROS) are now recognized as an integral part of numerous cellular programs. Thanks to their diverse physicochemical properties, compartmentalized production, and tight control exerted by the antioxidant machinery they activate signaling pathways that govern plant growth, development, and defense. Excessive ROS levels are often driven by adverse changes in environmental conditions, ultimately causing oxidative stress. The associated negative impact on cellular constituents have been a major focus of decade-long research efforts to improve the oxidative stress resilience by boosting the antioxidant machinery in model and crop species. We highlight the role of enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants as integral factors of multiple signaling cascades beyond their mere function to prevent oxidative damage under adverse abiotic stress conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pavel I Kerchev
- Phytophthora Research Centre, Department of Molecular Biology and Radiobiology, Faculty of AgriSciences, Mendel University in Brno, 61300, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Frank Van Breusegem
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, 9052, Gent, Belgium
- Center for Plant Systems Biology, VIB, 9052, Gent, Belgium
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Farrant JM, Hilhorst H. Crops for dry environments. Curr Opin Biotechnol 2021; 74:84-91. [PMID: 34808476 DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2021.10.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2021] [Revised: 08/18/2021] [Accepted: 10/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Climate change necessitates increased stress resilience of food crops. We describe four potential solutions, with emphasis on a relatively novel approach aiming at true tolerance of drought rather than improved water-holding capacity of crops, which is a common approach in current breeding and genome editing efforts. Some Angiosperms are known to tolerate loss of 95% of their cellular water, without dying, not dissimilar to seeds. The molecular mechanisms and their regulation underlying this remarkable ability are potentially useful to design tolerant crops. Since most crops produce desiccation tolerant seeds, genomic information for this attribute is present but inactive in vegetative parts of the plant. Based on recent evidence from both seeds and desiccation tolerant Angiosperms we address possible routes to 'flipping the switch' to vegetative desiccation tolerance in major crops.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jill M Farrant
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Henk Hilhorst
- Laboratory of Plant Physiology, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
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Quamruzzaman M, Manik SMN, Shabala S, Zhou M. Improving Performance of Salt-Grown Crops by Exogenous Application of Plant Growth Regulators. Biomolecules 2021; 11:788. [PMID: 34073871 PMCID: PMC8225067 DOI: 10.3390/biom11060788] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2021] [Revised: 05/19/2021] [Accepted: 05/21/2021] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Soil salinity is one of the major abiotic stresses restricting plant growth and development. Application of plant growth regulators (PGRs) is a possible practical means for minimizing salinity-induced yield losses, and can be used in addition to or as an alternative to crop breeding for enhancing salinity tolerance. The PGRs auxin, cytokinin, nitric oxide, brassinosteroid, gibberellin, salicylic acid, abscisic acid, jasmonate, and ethylene have been advocated for practical use to improve crop performance and yield under saline conditions. This review summarizes the current knowledge of the effectiveness of various PGRs in ameliorating the detrimental effects of salinity on plant growth and development, and elucidates the physiological and genetic mechanisms underlying this process by linking PGRs with their downstream targets and signal transduction pathways. It is shown that, while each of these PGRs possesses an ability to alter plant ionic and redox homeostasis, the complexity of interactions between various PGRs and their involvement in numerous signaling pathways makes it difficult to establish an unequivocal causal link between PGRs and their downstream effectors mediating plants' adaptation to salinity. The beneficial effects of PGRs are also strongly dependent on genotype, the timing of application, and the concentration used. The action spectrum of PGRs is also strongly dependent on salinity levels. Taken together, this results in a rather narrow "window" in which the beneficial effects of PGR are observed, hence limiting their practical application (especially under field conditions). It is concluded that, in the light of the above complexity, and also in the context of the cost-benefit analysis, crop breeding for salinity tolerance remains a more reliable avenue for minimizing the impact of salinity on plant growth and yield. Further progress in the field requires more studies on the underlying cell-based mechanisms of interaction between PGRs and membrane transporters mediating plant ion homeostasis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Md. Quamruzzaman
- Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, University of Tasmania, Prospect 7250, Australia; (M.Q.); (S.M.N.M.); (S.S.)
| | - S. M. Nuruzzaman Manik
- Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, University of Tasmania, Prospect 7250, Australia; (M.Q.); (S.M.N.M.); (S.S.)
| | - Sergey Shabala
- Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, University of Tasmania, Prospect 7250, Australia; (M.Q.); (S.M.N.M.); (S.S.)
- International Research Centre for Environmental Membrane Biology, Foshan University, Foshan 528000, China
| | - Meixue Zhou
- Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, University of Tasmania, Prospect 7250, Australia; (M.Q.); (S.M.N.M.); (S.S.)
- College of Agronomy, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu 030801, China
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Araus JL, Sanchez-Bragado R, Vicente R. Improving crop yield and resilience through optimization of photosynthesis: panacea or pipe dream? JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY 2021; 72:3936-3955. [PMID: 33640973 DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erab097] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2020] [Accepted: 02/24/2021] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
Increasing the speed of breeding to enhance crop productivity and adaptation to abiotic stresses is urgently needed. The perception that a second Green Revolution should be implemented is widely established within the scientific community and among stakeholders. In recent decades, different alternatives have been proposed for increasing crop yield through manipulation of leaf photosynthetic efficiency. However, none of these has delivered practical or relevant outputs. Indeed, the actual increases in photosynthetic rates are not expected to translate into yield increases beyond 10-15%. Furthermore, instantaneous rates of leaf photosynthesis are not necessarily the reference target for research. Yield is the result of canopy photosynthesis, understood as the contribution of laminar and non-laminar organs over time, within which concepts such as canopy architecture, stay-green, or non-laminar photosynthesis need to be taken into account. Moreover, retrospective studies show that photosynthetic improvements have been more common at the canopy level. Nevertheless, it is crucial to place canopy photosynthesis in the context of whole-plant functioning, which includes sink-source balance and transport of photoassimilates, and the availability and uptake of nutrients, such as nitrogen in particular. Overcoming this challenge will only be feasible if a multiscale crop focus combined with a multidisciplinary scientific approach is adopted.
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Affiliation(s)
- José L Araus
- Integrative Crop Ecophysiology Group, Plant Physiology Section, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, and AGROTECNIO Center, Lleida, Spain
| | - Ruth Sanchez-Bragado
- Integrative Crop Ecophysiology Group, Plant Physiology Section, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, and AGROTECNIO Center, Lleida, Spain
| | - Rubén Vicente
- Plant Ecophysiology and Metabolism Group, Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Oeiras, Portugal
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Kleine T, Nägele T, Neuhaus HE, Schmitz-Linneweber C, Fernie AR, Geigenberger P, Grimm B, Kaufmann K, Klipp E, Meurer J, Möhlmann T, Mühlhaus T, Naranjo B, Nickelsen J, Richter A, Ruwe H, Schroda M, Schwenkert S, Trentmann O, Willmund F, Zoschke R, Leister D. Acclimation in plants - the Green Hub consortium. THE PLANT JOURNAL : FOR CELL AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2021; 106:23-40. [PMID: 33368770 DOI: 10.1111/tpj.15144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2020] [Revised: 12/08/2020] [Accepted: 12/14/2020] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
Acclimation is the capacity to adapt to environmental changes within the lifetime of an individual. This ability allows plants to cope with the continuous variation in ambient conditions to which they are exposed as sessile organisms. Because environmental changes and extremes are becoming even more pronounced due to the current period of climate change, enhancing the efficacy of plant acclimation is a promising strategy for mitigating the consequences of global warming on crop yields. At the cellular level, the chloroplast plays a central role in many acclimation responses, acting both as a sensor of environmental change and as a target of cellular acclimation responses. In this Perspective article, we outline the activities of the Green Hub consortium funded by the German Science Foundation. The main aim of this research collaboration is to understand and strategically modify the cellular networks that mediate plant acclimation to adverse environments, employing Arabidopsis, tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) and Chlamydomonas as model organisms. These efforts will contribute to 'smart breeding' methods designed to create crop plants with improved acclimation properties. To this end, the model oilseed crop Camelina sativa is being used to test modulators of acclimation for their potential to enhance crop yield under adverse environmental conditions. Here we highlight the current state of research on the role of gene expression, metabolism and signalling in acclimation, with a focus on chloroplast-related processes. In addition, further approaches to uncovering acclimation mechanisms derived from systems and computational biology, as well as adaptive laboratory evolution with photosynthetic microbes, are highlighted.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tatjana Kleine
- Plant Molecular Biology, Faculty of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Planegg-Martinsried, 82152, Germany
| | - Thomas Nägele
- Plant Evolutionary Cell Biology, Faculty of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Planegg-Martinsried, Munich, 82152, Germany
| | - H Ekkehard Neuhaus
- Plant Physiology, Department of Biology, Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, 67663, Germany
| | | | - Alisdair R Fernie
- Central Metabolism, Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, Potsdam-Golm, 14476, Germany
| | - Peter Geigenberger
- Plant Metabolism, Faculty of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Planegg-Martinsried, Munich, 82152, Germany
| | - Bernhard Grimm
- Plant Physiology, Institute of Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, 10115, Germany
| | - Kerstin Kaufmann
- Plant Cell and Molecular Biology, Institute of Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, 10115, Germany
| | - Edda Klipp
- Theoretical Biophysics, Institute of Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, 10115, Germany
| | - Jörg Meurer
- Plant Molecular Biology, Faculty of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Planegg-Martinsried, 82152, Germany
| | - Torsten Möhlmann
- Plant Physiology, Department of Biology, Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, 67663, Germany
| | - Timo Mühlhaus
- Computational Systems Biology, Department of Biology, Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, 67663, Germany
| | - Belen Naranjo
- Plant Molecular Biology, Faculty of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Planegg-Martinsried, 82152, Germany
| | - Jörg Nickelsen
- Molecular Plant Science, Faculty of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Planegg-Martinsried, Munich, 82152, Germany
| | - Andreas Richter
- Physiology of Plant Organelles, Institute of Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, 10115, Germany
| | - Hannes Ruwe
- Molecular Genetics, Institute of Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, 10115, Germany
| | - Michael Schroda
- Molecular Biotechnology & Systems Biology, Department of Biology, Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, 67663, Germany
| | - Serena Schwenkert
- Plant Biochemistry and Physiology, Faculty of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Planegg-Martinsried, Munich, 82152, Germany
| | - Oliver Trentmann
- Plant Physiology, Department of Biology, Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, 67663, Germany
| | - Felix Willmund
- Molecular Genetics of Eukaryotes, Department of Biology, Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, 67663, Germany
| | - Reimo Zoschke
- Translational Regulation in Plants, Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, Potsdam-Golm, 14476, Germany
| | - Dario Leister
- Plant Molecular Biology, Faculty of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Planegg-Martinsried, 82152, Germany
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