Spatiotemporal transcriptomic plasticity in barley roots: unravelling water deficit responses in distinct root zones
Abstract Background Drought poses a major threat to agricultural production and thus food security. Understanding the processes shaping plant responses to water deficit is essential for global food safety. Though many studies examined the effect of water deficit on the whole-root level, the distinct...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2024-01-01
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| Series: | BMC Genomics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-024-10002-0 |
| _version_ | 1797350134847111168 |
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| author | Alina Klaus Caroline Marcon Frank Hochholdinger |
| author_facet | Alina Klaus Caroline Marcon Frank Hochholdinger |
| author_sort | Alina Klaus |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background Drought poses a major threat to agricultural production and thus food security. Understanding the processes shaping plant responses to water deficit is essential for global food safety. Though many studies examined the effect of water deficit on the whole-root level, the distinct functions of each root zone and their specific stress responses remain masked by this approach. Results In this study, we investigated the effect of water deficit on root development of the spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) cultivar Morex and examined transcriptomic responses at the level of longitudinal root zones. Water deficit significantly reduced root growth rates after two days of treatment. RNA-sequencing revealed root zone and temporal gene expression changes depending on the duration of water deficit treatment. The majority of water deficit-regulated genes were unique for their respective root zone-by-treatment combination, though they were associated with commonly enriched gene ontology terms. Among these, we found terms associated with transport, detoxification, or cell wall formation affected by water deficit. Integration of weighted gene co-expression analyses identified differential hub genes, that highlighted the importance of modulating energy and protein metabolism and stress response. Conclusion Our findings provide new insights into the highly dynamic and spatiotemporal response cascade triggered by water deficit and the underlying genetic regulations on the level of root zones in the barley cultivar Morex, providing potential targets to enhance plant resilience against environmental constraints. This study further emphasizes the importance of considering spatial and temporal resolution when examining stress responses. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T12:40:24Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-709c74e418f341e3bb71815ba78b1afa |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1471-2164 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T12:40:24Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Genomics |
| spelling | doaj.art-709c74e418f341e3bb71815ba78b1afa2024-01-21T12:11:38ZengBMCBMC Genomics1471-21642024-01-0125111510.1186/s12864-024-10002-0Spatiotemporal transcriptomic plasticity in barley roots: unravelling water deficit responses in distinct root zonesAlina Klaus0Caroline Marcon1Frank Hochholdinger2Institute for Crop Science and Resource Conservation, Crop Functional Genomics, University of BonnInstitute for Crop Science and Resource Conservation, Crop Functional Genomics, University of BonnInstitute for Crop Science and Resource Conservation, Crop Functional Genomics, University of BonnAbstract Background Drought poses a major threat to agricultural production and thus food security. Understanding the processes shaping plant responses to water deficit is essential for global food safety. Though many studies examined the effect of water deficit on the whole-root level, the distinct functions of each root zone and their specific stress responses remain masked by this approach. Results In this study, we investigated the effect of water deficit on root development of the spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) cultivar Morex and examined transcriptomic responses at the level of longitudinal root zones. Water deficit significantly reduced root growth rates after two days of treatment. RNA-sequencing revealed root zone and temporal gene expression changes depending on the duration of water deficit treatment. The majority of water deficit-regulated genes were unique for their respective root zone-by-treatment combination, though they were associated with commonly enriched gene ontology terms. Among these, we found terms associated with transport, detoxification, or cell wall formation affected by water deficit. Integration of weighted gene co-expression analyses identified differential hub genes, that highlighted the importance of modulating energy and protein metabolism and stress response. Conclusion Our findings provide new insights into the highly dynamic and spatiotemporal response cascade triggered by water deficit and the underlying genetic regulations on the level of root zones in the barley cultivar Morex, providing potential targets to enhance plant resilience against environmental constraints. This study further emphasizes the importance of considering spatial and temporal resolution when examining stress responses.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-024-10002-0BarleyDifferential hub genesGene expressionRNA-seqRoot zonesWater deficit |
| spellingShingle | Alina Klaus Caroline Marcon Frank Hochholdinger Spatiotemporal transcriptomic plasticity in barley roots: unravelling water deficit responses in distinct root zones BMC Genomics Barley Differential hub genes Gene expression RNA-seq Root zones Water deficit |
| title | Spatiotemporal transcriptomic plasticity in barley roots: unravelling water deficit responses in distinct root zones |
| title_full | Spatiotemporal transcriptomic plasticity in barley roots: unravelling water deficit responses in distinct root zones |
| title_fullStr | Spatiotemporal transcriptomic plasticity in barley roots: unravelling water deficit responses in distinct root zones |
| title_full_unstemmed | Spatiotemporal transcriptomic plasticity in barley roots: unravelling water deficit responses in distinct root zones |
| title_short | Spatiotemporal transcriptomic plasticity in barley roots: unravelling water deficit responses in distinct root zones |
| title_sort | spatiotemporal transcriptomic plasticity in barley roots unravelling water deficit responses in distinct root zones |
| topic | Barley Differential hub genes Gene expression RNA-seq Root zones Water deficit |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-024-10002-0 |
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