Jul 2026· New Phytologist· 1 citation· 124 references
Medicine
TL;DR
Asian rice seedling responses to drought and salinity stress conditions indicate that leaf development occurring in salt and drought stress conditions is the product of a complex interplay of developmental, environmental, and cell-type contexts.
Abstract
Osmotic stressors impair tissue expansion and slow crop development, which can ultimately reduce yield. The mechanisms through which dividing and differentiating cells perceive, integrate, and respond to stress are not well understood. To explore this knowledge gap, we assessed Asian rice (Oryza sativa) seedling responses to drought and salinity stress by performing single-nucleus transcriptome analyses on developing leaves and by assaying ion distribution using ICP-MS and CoroNa Green staining. With a dataset of > 125 000 high-quality nuclei, we identified transcriptome signatures of developmental trajectories for each of the major tissue systems, from their origin as dividing cells in the shoot apical meristem to mature cells in epidermal, mesophyll, and vascular tissues. We explored the extensive heterogeneity between cell types with respect to their responses to stress by developing an ensemble-based Perturbation Index and a tool for visualizing pseudobulk expression data and characterizing regulatory modules for different stress responses. Transcriptionally, moderate stress perturbs cells early in development and induces regulatory networks that inhibit cell division, whereas mild stressors primarily disrupt gene expression in differentiated tissues. Overall, these results indicate that leaf development occurring in salt and drought stress conditions is the product of a complex interplay of developmental, environmental, and cell-type contexts.
Environmental stresses severely affect crop survival,
growth and grain yield, creating an urgent need to
develop stress-tolerant varieties to sustain agricultural
productivity. Abiotic stress signals often induce rapid
fluctuations in cytosolic calcium levels, which are
decoded by calcium-binding proteins to activate
downstream signaling pathways. Annexins constitute a
diverse multigene family of calcium-responsive
proteins that play important roles across the eukaryotic
kingdom. In plants, several annexin homologues have
been identified. High concentrations of sodium
chloride (NaCl), D-mannitol and polyethylene glycol
(PEG) are commonly used to impose osmotic stress and
simulate drought- or salinity-like conditions.
To elucidate the role of rice annexins under osmotic
stress, their expression profiles were analyzed in Oryza
sativa group Indica cv. IR64 using endpoint RT-PCR.
Ten-day-old seedlings were exposed to varying
concentrations of NaCl, D-mannitol and PEG. RNA
was isolated at two time points during a time-course
experiment. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR was employed
to examine the expression of seven annexin genes. The
results revealed distinct and differential expression
patterns among the annexin genes across treatments,
indicating gene-specific responses to different osmotic
stress conditions during early seedling development.
Collectively, these findings suggest that annexins may
play important regulatory roles in mediating osmotic
stress responses in rice.
Vikas Chandra, S. Barthakur, Kushal Kant Pant et al.· Research journal of biotechn...· 0 citations
Drought is a major abiotic stress threatening plant productivity and agricultural sustainability, yet the molecular mechanisms underlying adaptive root responses to water deficit in the water use strategies continuum remain insufficiently understood, particularly in perennial crops. In this study, we explored drought responses in nine accessions belonging to three wild Vitis species (V. acerifolia, V. candicans, and V. doaniana) displaying variying drought-response strategies. Plants were subjected to moderate drought stress (40% soil water content) for three weeks under greenhouse conditions. By integrating physiological, metabolic, and transcriptomic analyses, we aimed to identify both conserved and species-specific mechanisms associated with drought adaptation. Differential expression analyses revealed a conserved core set of drought-responsive genes shared among species, including genes involved in abscisic acid signaling, reactive oxygen species detoxification, solute transport, and plant defense. In parallel, each species exhibited distinct transcriptional and metabolic signatures reflecting alternative adaptive strategies related to osmoregulation, and oxidative stress mitigation. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) further revealed significant associations between constitutive, non-plastic gene expression and root phenotypic traits. Overall, our findings demonstrate that wild Vitis species rely on both conserved stress-responsive pathways and species-specific constitutive regulation to cope with drought stress. These results highlight the importance of root-associated traits and intrinsic regulatory networks in shaping drought adaptation and provide new targets for the development of drought-resilient grapevine rootstocks.
Chedid Elsa, Patin R. Etienne, Tran Joseph et al.· bioRxiv· 0 citations
Water scarcity impacts soybean cultivation and productivity globally. The ability of plants to withstand drought stress involves complex molecular and physiological mechanisms that facilitate the restoration and maintenance of cellular homeostasis. This study identified genes associated with carbohydrate metabolism and GABA shunt pathway that respond to water deficit in two soybean varieties. These varieties exhibited contrasting responses to water scarcity, and were subjected to two distinct cropping systems. In the drought-tolerant variety, a strategy for conferring tolerance was observed through the pre-emptive priming of the drought response. By applying multivariate analysis, we identified a pivotal gene, GmBAM-like 1, which responds to water scarcity. GmBAM-like 1 encodes a β-amylase and showed rapid activation and elevated expression levels in root tissues of the tolerant variety, suggesting its potential involvement in the drought tolerance response. Transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpressing GmBAM-like 1 demonstrated enhanced tolerance to salt and osmotic stress, as evidenced by increased survival and germination rates. Additionally, after drought stress, these plants showed higher transpiration rates, larger leaf area, and greater relative water content upon rehydration. These findings demonstrate the potential of integrating the GmBAM-like 1 gene into plant breeding programs to develop cultivars with improved tolerance to water, salt, and osmotic stresses.
Fábia Guimarães-Dias, Lucas Leal Lima, A. C. Neves-Borges et al.· Genetics and Molecular Biolo...· 0 citations
Drought stress is a primary abiotic constraint limiting potato productivity. While polyphenol oxidase (PPO) is known to participate in stress responses, the specific role of StuPPO9 in drought tolerance remains poorly understood. In this study, we generated StuPPO9-overexpressing (OE) and CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knockout (C4) lines in the potato cultivar ‘Atlantic’. Under sustained drought stress, OE lines exhibited significantly superior growth phenotypes compared to wild-type (WT) and C4 plants, characterized by increased leaf and root relative water content, root number and enhanced photosynthetic efficiency (Pn and Gs). OE plants also maintained lower levels of MDA and ROS through elevated antioxidant enzyme activities. Notably, transcriptomic analysis revealed that StuPPO9 triggers a global reprogramming of metabolic pathways. Key drought-responsive genes associated with phenylpropanoid biosynthesis (e.g., anthocyanin acyltransferase), terpenoid metabolism, and hormone signaling (e.g., HPt protein) were significantly upregulated in OE plants. These findings suggest that StuPPO9 confers drought resilience through a multi-layered network involving optimized carbon allocation, reinforced cell wall integrity, and enhanced ROS scavenging capacity. This study provides a promising genetic target and theoretical foundation for breeding drought-resistant potato varieties.
Ming-Kun Chi, Boyang Liu, Heng-Zhao Yang et al.· Plants· 0 citations
Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is an important global food crop; however, its production is continuously susceptible to drought and salinity. The present review presents the complex morpho-physiological, hormonal and molecular mechanisms adopted by rice employs to survive the drought and salinity stress. Morphologically, rice adapts by increasing root length and adjusting the root-to-shoot ratio, while physiological defenses include stomatal regulation and activation of antioxidant systems to scavenge reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced during the stress condition. We discuss the important role of phytohormones, specifically abscisic acid (ABA) and jasmonic acid (JA), in mediating stress signalling. Furthermore, the review also provides a detailed key role of important transcription factor families, including NAC, MYB, bZIP, and AP2/ERF. The sub-section of review also highlighting specific genetic evidence from recent overexpression and CRISPR/Cas9-mediated studies in rice crop against the said stress. The integration of multi-omics and biotechnological approaches is presented as the most effective strategy for developing climate-resilient rice varieties. This condensed review offers an up-to-date roadmap for researchers aiming to improve rice productivity under increasingly saline and arid conditions.
Heat stress represents one of the most severe abiotic constraints to rice (
Oryza sativa
L.) productivity and is expected to intensify under ongoing climate change, particularly affecting the reproductive phase and leading to substantial yield and grain quality losses. This review synthesizes current knowledge on the impacts of heat stress on rice reproduction, with a focus on both male and female reproductive structures and their interactions. Evidence from anatomical, physiological, transcriptomic, and metabolomic studies to describe how elevated temperatures disrupt key reproductive processes, including microsporogenesis, anther dehiscence, pollen viability, pollen-pistil interactions, fertilisation, and embryo sac development were integrated in this review. It further discusses the genotype-dependent differences in reproductive thermotolerance; and key genes, metabolites, and pathways associated with heat stress perception, signalling, and tolerance are highlighted. Finally, it is briefly discussed how recent advances in breeding strategies, functional genomics and genome-editing technologies, particularly CRISPR-based approaches, are providing new opportunities to enhance reproductive resilience to heat stress and how it is essential to close the existing molecular knowledge gaps in the development of heat-tolerant rice varieties capable of sustaining productivity in a warming climate.
Miguel Moreira, Ana Rita Queirós, Ana Ventura et al.· Frontiers in Genome Editing· 0 citations