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Li X, He D, White RG, Delhaize E, Ryan PR, Ingvordsen CH, Scafaro AP, Atkin OK, Wasson A, Richards R. Reduced tillering and dwarfing genes alter root traits and rhizo-economics in wheat. PHYSIOLOGIA PLANTARUM 2024; 176:e14336. [PMID: 38783514 DOI: 10.1111/ppl.14336] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2023] [Revised: 02/18/2024] [Accepted: 04/08/2024] [Indexed: 05/25/2024]
Abstract
The tiller inhibition (tin) and Reduced height (Rht) genes strongly influence the carbon partitioning and architecture of wheat shoots, but their effects on the energy economy of roots have not been examined in detail. We examined multiple root traits in three sets of near-isogenic wheat lines (NILs) that differ in the tin gene or various dwarfing gene alleles (Rht-B1b, Rht-D1b, Rht-B1c and Rht-B1b + Rht-D1b) to determine their effects on root structure, anatomy and carbon allocation. The tin gene resulted in fewer tillers but more costly roots in an extreme tin phenotype with a Banks genetic background due to increases in root-to-shoot ratio, total root length, and whole root respiration. However, this effect depended on the genetic background as tin caused both smaller shoots and roots in a different genetic background. The semi-dwarf gene Rht-B1b caused few changes to the root structure, whereas Rht-D1b, Rht-B1c and the double dwarf (Rht-B1b + Rht-D1b) decreased the root biomass. Rht-B1c reduced the energy cost of roots by increasing specific root length, increasing the volume of cortical aerenchyma and by reducing root length, number, and biomass without affecting the root-to-shoot ratio. This work informs researchers using tin and Rht genes how to modify root system architecture to suit specific environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoqing Li
- CSIRO Agriculture and Food, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Di He
- CSIRO Agriculture and Food, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | | | - Emmanuel Delhaize
- Australian Plant Phenomics Facility, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Peter R Ryan
- CSIRO Agriculture and Food, Canberra, ACT, Australia
- Division of Plant Sciences, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | | | - Andrew P Scafaro
- Division of Plant Sciences, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Owen K Atkin
- Division of Plant Sciences, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Anton Wasson
- CSIRO Agriculture and Food, Canberra, ACT, Australia
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Sustek-Sánchez F, Rognli OA, Rostoks N, Sõmera M, Jaškūnė K, Kovi MR, Statkevičiūtė G, Sarmiento C. Improving abiotic stress tolerance of forage grasses - prospects of using genome editing. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2023; 14:1127532. [PMID: 36824201 PMCID: PMC9941169 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1127532] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2022] [Accepted: 01/24/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Due to an increase in the consumption of food, feed, and fuel and to meet global food security needs for the rapidly growing human population, there is a necessity to obtain high-yielding crops that can adapt to future climate changes. Currently, the main feed source used for ruminant livestock production is forage grasses. In temperate climate zones, perennial grasses grown for feed are widely distributed and tend to suffer under unfavorable environmental conditions. Genome editing has been shown to be an effective tool for the development of abiotic stress-resistant plants. The highly versatile CRISPR-Cas system enables increasingly complex modifications in genomes while maintaining precision and low off-target frequency mutations. In this review, we provide an overview of forage grass species that have been subjected to genome editing. We offer a perspective view on the generation of plants resilient to abiotic stresses. Due to the broad factors contributing to these stresses the review focuses on drought, salt, heat, and cold stresses. The application of new genomic techniques (e.g., CRISPR-Cas) allows addressing several challenges caused by climate change and abiotic stresses for developing forage grass cultivars with improved adaptation to the future climatic conditions. Genome editing will contribute towards developing safe and sustainable food systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ferenz Sustek-Sánchez
- Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia
| | - Odd Arne Rognli
- Department of Plant Sciences, Faculty of Biosciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), Ås, Norway
| | - Nils Rostoks
- Department of Microbiology and Biotechnology, Faculty of Biology, University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia
| | - Merike Sõmera
- Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia
| | - Kristina Jaškūnė
- Laboratory of Genetics and Physiology, Institute of Agriculture, Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, Akademija, Lithuania
| | - Mallikarjuna Rao Kovi
- Department of Plant Sciences, Faculty of Biosciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), Ås, Norway
| | - Gražina Statkevičiūtė
- Laboratory of Genetics and Physiology, Institute of Agriculture, Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, Akademija, Lithuania
| | - Cecilia Sarmiento
- Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia
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Si Z, Delhaize E, Hendriks PW, Li X. Differences in Root Morphologies of Contrasting Wheat ( Triticum aestivum) Genotypes Are Robust of a Drought Treatment. PLANTS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2023; 12:275. [PMID: 36678988 PMCID: PMC9863919 DOI: 10.3390/plants12020275] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2022] [Revised: 12/21/2022] [Accepted: 12/28/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
We aimed to assess the effect of water deprivation on root traits and to establish if the wheat cultivars Spica and Maringa would be useful as parental germplasm for a genetic analysis of root traits. Plants were grown in two markedly different soils under well-watered and water-limited treatments in controlled environment growth cabinets. The drought treatment was imposed as a gradual depletion of water over 28 days as seedlings grew from a defined starting moisture content. The root traits analyzed included length, nodal root number, thickness and nodal root angle. The relative differences in traits between genotypes generally proved to be robust in terms of water treatment and soil type. Maringa had a shallower nodal root angle than Spica, which was driven by the nodal roots. By contrast, the seminal roots of Maringa were found to be similar to or even steeper than those of Spica. We conclude that the differences in root traits between Spica and Maringa were robust to the drought treatment and soil types. Phenotyping on well-watered soil is relevant for identifying traits potentially involved in conferring water use efficiency. Furthermore, Spica and Maringa are suitable parental germplasm for developing populations to determine the genetics of key root traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhuanyun Si
- Key Laboratory of Crop Water Use and Regulation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs/Institute of Farmland Irrigation, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Xinxiang 453002, China
- CSIRO Agriculture and Food, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
| | - Emmanuel Delhaize
- Australian Plant Phenomics Facility, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia
| | - Pieter-Willem Hendriks
- CSIRO Agriculture and Food, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
- Faculty of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Lincoln University, 85084 Ellesmere Junction Road, Lincoln 7647, New Zealand
| | - Xiaoqing Li
- CSIRO Agriculture and Food, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
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Barnhart MH, Masalia RR, Mosley LJ, Burke JM. Phenotypic and transcriptomic responses of cultivated sunflower seedlings (Helianthus annuus L.) to four abiotic stresses. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0275462. [PMID: 36178944 PMCID: PMC9524668 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0275462] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2022] [Accepted: 09/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Plants encounter and respond to numerous abiotic stresses during their lifetimes. These stresses are often related and could therefore elicit related responses. There are, however, relatively few detailed comparisons between multiple different stresses at the molecular level. Here, we investigated the phenotypic and transcriptomic response of cultivated sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) seedlings to three water-related stresses (i.e., dry-down, an osmotic challenge, and salt stress), as well as a generalized low-nutrient stress. All four stresses negatively impacted seedling growth, with the nutrient stress having a more divergent response from control as compared to the water-related stresses. Phenotypic responses were consistent with expectations for growth in low-resource environments, including increased (i.e., less negative) carbon fractionation values and leaf C:N ratios, as well as increased belowground biomass allocation. The number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) under stress was greater in leaf tissue, but roots exhibited a higher proportion of DEGs unique to individual stresses. Overall, the three water-related stresses had a more similar transcriptomic response to each other vs. nutrient stress, though this pattern was more pronounced in root vs. leaf tissue. In contrast to our DEG analyses, co-expression network analysis revealed that there was little indication of a shared response between the four stresses in despite the majority of DEGs being shared between multiple stresses. Importantly, osmotic stress, which is often used to simulate drought stress in experimental settings, had little transcriptomic resemblance to true water limitation (i.e., dry-down) in our study, calling into question its utility as a means for simulating drought.
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Affiliation(s)
- Max H. Barnhart
- Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Rishi R. Masalia
- Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United States of America
| | - Liana J. Mosley
- Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United States of America
| | - John M. Burke
- Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United States of America
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