Drought Stress Priming Improved the Drought Tolerance of Soybean
The capability of a plant to protect itself from stress-related damages is termed “adaptability” and the phenomenon of showing better performance in subsequent stress is termed “stress memory”. While drought is one of the most serious disasters to result from climate change, the current understandin...
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| Format: | Article |
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MDPI AG
2022-11-01
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| Series: | Plants |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/11/21/2954 |
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| author | Mariz Sintaha Chun-Kuen Man Wai-Shing Yung Shaowei Duan Man-Wah Li Hon-Ming Lam |
| author_facet | Mariz Sintaha Chun-Kuen Man Wai-Shing Yung Shaowei Duan Man-Wah Li Hon-Ming Lam |
| author_sort | Mariz Sintaha |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The capability of a plant to protect itself from stress-related damages is termed “adaptability” and the phenomenon of showing better performance in subsequent stress is termed “stress memory”. While drought is one of the most serious disasters to result from climate change, the current understanding of drought stress priming in soybean is still inadequate for effective crop improvement. To fill this gap, in this study, the drought memory response was evaluated in cultivated soybean (<i>Glycine max</i>). To determine if a priming stress prior to a drought stress would be beneficial to the survival of soybean, plants were divided into three treatment groups: the unprimed group receiving one cycle of stress (1S), the primed group receiving two cycles of stress (2S), and the unstressed control group not subjected to any stress (US). When compared with the unprimed plants, priming led to a reduction of drought stress index (DSI) by 3, resulting in more than 14% increase in surviving leaves, more than 13% increase in leaf water content, slight increase in shoot water content and a slower rate of loss of water from the detached leaves. Primed plants had less than 60% the transpiration rate and stomatal conductance compared to the unprimed plants, accompanied by a slight drop in photosynthesis rate, and about a 30% increase in water usage efficiency (WUE). Priming also increased the root-to-shoot ratio, potentially improving water uptake. Selected genes encoding late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins and MYB, NAC and PP2C domain-containing transcription factors were shown to be highly induced in primed plants compared to the unprimed group. In conclusion, priming significantly improved the drought stress response in soybean during recurrent drought, partially through the maintenance of water status and stronger expression of stress related genes. In sum, we have identified key physiological parameters for soybean which may be used as indicators for future genetic study to identify the genetic element controlling the drought stress priming. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T18:44:26Z |
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| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2223-7747 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T18:44:26Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Plants |
| spelling | doaj.art-ca7704d9572540e3884a36bab19fbe352023-11-24T06:25:49ZengMDPI AGPlants2223-77472022-11-011121295410.3390/plants11212954Drought Stress Priming Improved the Drought Tolerance of SoybeanMariz Sintaha0Chun-Kuen Man1Wai-Shing Yung2Shaowei Duan3Man-Wah Li4Hon-Ming Lam5School of Life Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, ChinaSchool of Life Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, ChinaSchool of Life Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, ChinaSchool of Life Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, ChinaSchool of Life Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, ChinaSchool of Life Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, ChinaThe capability of a plant to protect itself from stress-related damages is termed “adaptability” and the phenomenon of showing better performance in subsequent stress is termed “stress memory”. While drought is one of the most serious disasters to result from climate change, the current understanding of drought stress priming in soybean is still inadequate for effective crop improvement. To fill this gap, in this study, the drought memory response was evaluated in cultivated soybean (<i>Glycine max</i>). To determine if a priming stress prior to a drought stress would be beneficial to the survival of soybean, plants were divided into three treatment groups: the unprimed group receiving one cycle of stress (1S), the primed group receiving two cycles of stress (2S), and the unstressed control group not subjected to any stress (US). When compared with the unprimed plants, priming led to a reduction of drought stress index (DSI) by 3, resulting in more than 14% increase in surviving leaves, more than 13% increase in leaf water content, slight increase in shoot water content and a slower rate of loss of water from the detached leaves. Primed plants had less than 60% the transpiration rate and stomatal conductance compared to the unprimed plants, accompanied by a slight drop in photosynthesis rate, and about a 30% increase in water usage efficiency (WUE). Priming also increased the root-to-shoot ratio, potentially improving water uptake. Selected genes encoding late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins and MYB, NAC and PP2C domain-containing transcription factors were shown to be highly induced in primed plants compared to the unprimed group. In conclusion, priming significantly improved the drought stress response in soybean during recurrent drought, partially through the maintenance of water status and stronger expression of stress related genes. In sum, we have identified key physiological parameters for soybean which may be used as indicators for future genetic study to identify the genetic element controlling the drought stress priming.https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/11/21/2954water contentphotosynthesistranspirationgene expressiondrought memoryphysiology |
| spellingShingle | Mariz Sintaha Chun-Kuen Man Wai-Shing Yung Shaowei Duan Man-Wah Li Hon-Ming Lam Drought Stress Priming Improved the Drought Tolerance of Soybean Plants water content photosynthesis transpiration gene expression drought memory physiology |
| title | Drought Stress Priming Improved the Drought Tolerance of Soybean |
| title_full | Drought Stress Priming Improved the Drought Tolerance of Soybean |
| title_fullStr | Drought Stress Priming Improved the Drought Tolerance of Soybean |
| title_full_unstemmed | Drought Stress Priming Improved the Drought Tolerance of Soybean |
| title_short | Drought Stress Priming Improved the Drought Tolerance of Soybean |
| title_sort | drought stress priming improved the drought tolerance of soybean |
| topic | water content photosynthesis transpiration gene expression drought memory physiology |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/11/21/2954 |
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