Abstract
Drought stress affects cereals especially during the reproductive stage. The maize (Zea mays) drought transcriptome was studied using RNA-Seq analysis to compare drought-treated and well-watered fertilized ovary and basal leaf meristem tissue. More drought-responsive genes responded in the ovary compared with the leaf meristem. Gene Ontology enrichment analysis revealed a massive decrease in transcript abundance of cell division and cell cycle genes in the drought-stressed ovary only. Among Gene Ontology categories related to carbohydrate metabolism, changes in starch and Suc metabolism-related genes occurred in the ovary, consistent with a decrease in starch levels, and in Suc transporter function, with no comparable changes occurring in the leaf meristem. Abscisic acid (ABA)-related processes responded positively, but only in the ovaries. Related responses suggested the operation of low glucose sensing in drought-stressed ovaries. The data are discussed in the context of the susceptibility of maize kernel to drought stress leading to embryo abortion and the relative robustness of dividing vegetative tissue taken at the same time from the same plant subjected to the same conditions. Our working hypothesis involves signaling events associated with increased ABA levels, decreased glucose levels, disruption of ABA/sugar signaling, activation of programmed cell death/senescence through repression of a phospholipase C-mediated signaling pathway, and arrest of the cell cycle in the stressed ovary at 1 d after pollination. Increased invertase levels in the stressed leaf meristem, on the other hand, resulted in that tissue maintaining hexose levels at an "unstressed" level, and at lower ABA levels, which was correlated with successful resistance to drought stress.
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Claims 11
Claim · model-written summary
More drought-responsive genes responded in the ovary than in the leaf meristem.
- Organ / stage
- ovarye2
- Treatment
- droughte1
- Outcome
- drought-responsive genese2
- Direction
- Moree2
- Comparator
- leaf meristeme2
Zea maysOrganisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“The maize (Zea mays) drought transcriptome was studied using RNA-Seq analysis to compare drought-treated and well-watered fertilized ovary and basal leaf meristem tissue”
e2“More drought-responsive genes responded in the ovary compared with the leaf meristem”
Claim · model-written summary
Transcripts of cell division and cell cycle genes decreased massively in the drought-stressed ovary only.
- Organ / stage
- ovarye2
- Treatment
- drought-stressede2
- Outcome
- transcript abundance of cell division and cell cycle genese2
- Direction
- decreasee2
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“The maize (Zea mays) drought transcriptome was studied using RNA-Seq analysis to compare drought-treated and well-watered fertilized ovary and basal leaf meristem tissue”
e2“Gene Ontology enrichment analysis revealed a massive decrease in transcript abundance of cell division and cell cycle genes in the drought-stressed ovary only”
Claim · model-written summary
Changes in starch and Suc metabolism-related genes occurred in the ovary.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“The maize (Zea mays) drought transcriptome was studied using RNA-Seq analysis to compare drought-treated and well-watered fertilized ovary and basal leaf meristem tissue”
e2“changes in starch and Suc metabolism-related genes occurred in the ovary, consistent with a decrease in starch levels”
Claim · model-written summary
Starch levels decreased in the ovary.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“The maize (Zea mays) drought transcriptome was studied using RNA-Seq analysis to compare drought-treated and well-watered fertilized ovary and basal leaf meristem tissue”
e2“changes in starch and Suc metabolism-related genes occurred in the ovary, consistent with a decrease in starch levels”
Claim · model-written summary
Suc transporter function showed no comparable change in the leaf meristem.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“The maize (Zea mays) drought transcriptome was studied using RNA-Seq analysis to compare drought-treated and well-watered fertilized ovary and basal leaf meristem tissue”
e3“and in Suc transporter function, with no comparable changes occurring in the leaf meristem”
Claim · model-written summary
Abscisic acid-related processes responded positively, but only in the ovaries.
- Organ / stage
- ovariese4
- Compound
- Abscisic acid (ABA)e4
- Outcome
- (ABA)-related processese4
- Direction
- responded positivelye4
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“The maize (Zea mays) drought transcriptome was studied using RNA-Seq analysis to compare drought-treated and well-watered fertilized ovary and basal leaf meristem tissue”
e4“Abscisic acid (ABA)-related processes responded positively, but only in the ovaries”
Claim · model-written summary
Related responses suggest the operation of low glucose sensing in drought-stressed ovaries.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“The maize (Zea mays) drought transcriptome was studied using RNA-Seq analysis to compare drought-treated and well-watered fertilized ovary and basal leaf meristem tissue”
e5“Related responses suggested the operation of low glucose sensing in drought-stressed ovaries”
Claim · model-written summary
Increased invertase levels occurred in the stressed leaf meristem.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“The maize (Zea mays) drought transcriptome was studied using RNA-Seq analysis to compare drought-treated and well-watered fertilized ovary and basal leaf meristem tissue”
e6“Increased invertase levels in the stressed leaf meristem”
Claim · model-written summary
The stressed leaf meristem maintained hexose levels at an unstressed level.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“The maize (Zea mays) drought transcriptome was studied using RNA-Seq analysis to compare drought-treated and well-watered fertilized ovary and basal leaf meristem tissue”
e7“resulted in that tissue maintaining hexose levels at an "unstressed" level”
Claim · model-written summary
Lower ABA levels occurred in the stressed leaf meristem.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“The maize (Zea mays) drought transcriptome was studied using RNA-Seq analysis to compare drought-treated and well-watered fertilized ovary and basal leaf meristem tissue”
e2“and at lower ABA levels, which was correlated with successful resistance to drought stress”
Claim · model-written summary
Lower ABA levels were correlated with successful resistance to drought stress.
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“The maize (Zea mays) drought transcriptome was studied using RNA-Seq analysis to compare drought-treated and well-watered fertilized ovary and basal leaf meristem tissue”
e2“and at lower ABA levels, which was correlated with successful resistance to drought stress”