Abstract
BACKGROUND: Abscisic acid (ABA) is a phytohormone that mediates plant responses to drought stress by regulating stomatal conductance, gene expression, and photosynthetic efficiency. Although ABA-induced stress priming has shown the potential to improve drought tolerance, the molecular mechanisms underlying ABA pretreatment effects remain poorly understood. This study aimed to determine how ABA pre-treatment at the booting stage influences physiological and molecular responses to drought at the heading stage in barley. RESULTS: The ABA-treated plants exhibited earlier stomatal closure, increased expression of ABA-responsive genes (HvNCED1, HvBG8, and HvA22), and maintained higher chlorophyll levels under drought conditions. Photosynthetic parameters, including photosystem II activity, electron transport rate, and the number of active reaction centers, were preserved in ABA-pretreated plants compared with drought-only plants. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that ABA pre-treatment primed plants for faster activation of stress-responsive pathways, with enhanced expression of genes related to chromatin modifications, RNA metabolism, and ABA signaling during drought. Importantly, Alternative splicing (AS) and isoform switching were significantly amplified in ABA-pretreated plants, underscoring a unique molecular mechanism of ABA priming that enhances drought resilience. Post-stress recovery analysis revealed a greater number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and alternatively spliced transcripts (DAS) in ABA-pretreated plants, particularly those involved in chromatin organization and photosynthesis. Physiological analyses demonstrated that time- and dose-optimized ABA applications improved yield parameters, including grain weight and seed area, while mitigating spike sterility under drought conditions. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that ABA pretreatment enhances drought resilience in barley by triggering early stomatal closure, preserving chlorophyll content, and maintaining photosynthetic performance under water stress. At the molecular level, ABA priming accelerates stress-response pathways, promoting alternative splicing, isoform switching, and chromatin modifications that enable transcriptome plasticity. These processes facilitate faster recovery and sustain critical yield components, such as spike number and grain weight, when ABA is applied at optimized timing and concentrations. While large-scale ABA application poses challenges, this study provides a framework for breeding and agronomic strategies to mimic ABA effects, offering a practical path to enhance drought tolerance and yield stability in barley.
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Claims 10
Claim · model-written summary
ABA-treated barley plants exhibited earlier stomatal closure under drought.
- Taxon
- barley
.jpg?width=60)
Hordeum vulgaret0 - Treatment
- ABA-treated plantse1
- Outcome
- stomatal closuree1
- Direction
- earliere1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
.jpg?width=500)
Verbatim
t0“barley”
e1“The ABA-treated plants exhibited earlier stomatal closure”
Claim · model-written summary
ABA-treated barley plants showed increased expression of the ABA-responsive genes HvNCED1, HvBG8 and HvA22.
- Taxon
- barleyHordeum vulgaret0
- Treatment
- ABA-treated plantse1
- Gene
- HvNCED1, HvBG8, and HvA22e1
- Outcome
- expression of ABA-responsive genese1
- Direction
- increasede1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“barley”
e1“The ABA-treated plants exhibited earlier stomatal closure, increased expression of ABA-responsive genes (HvNCED1, HvBG8, and HvA22)”
Claim · model-written summary
ABA-treated barley plants maintained higher chlorophyll levels under drought conditions.
- Taxon
- barleyHordeum vulgaret0
- Treatment
- ABA-treated plantse1
- Outcome
- chlorophyll levelse1
- Direction
- highere1
- Qualifier
- under drought conditionse1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“barley”
e1“The ABA-treated plants exhibited earlier stomatal closure, increased expression of ABA-responsive genes (HvNCED1, HvBG8, and HvA22), and maintained higher chlorophyll levels under drought conditions”
Claim · model-written summary
Photosystem II activity, electron transport rate and number of active reaction centers were preserved in ABA-pretreated barley plants compared with drought-only plants.
- Taxon
- barleyHordeum vulgaret0
- Treatment
- ABA-pretreated plantse1
- Outcome
- photosystem II activity, electron transport rate, and the number of active reaction centerse1
- Direction
- preservede1
- Comparator
- drought-only plantse1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“barley”
e1“Photosynthetic parameters, including photosystem II activity, electron transport rate, and the number of active reaction centers, were preserved in ABA-pretreated plants compared with drought-only plants”
Claim · model-written summary
ABA pre-treatment led to enhanced expression of genes related to chromatin modifications, RNA metabolism and ABA signaling during drought in barley.
- Taxon
- barleyHordeum vulgaret0
- Treatment
- ABA pre-treatmente1
- Outcome
- expression of genes related to chromatin modifications, RNA metabolism, and ABA signalinge1
- Direction
- enhancede1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“barley”
e1“ABA pre-treatment primed plants for faster activation of stress-responsive pathways, with enhanced expression of genes related to chromatin modifications, RNA metabolism, and ABA signaling during drought”
Claim · model-written summary
Alternative splicing and isoform switching were significantly amplified in ABA-pretreated barley plants.
- Taxon
- barleyHordeum vulgaret0
- Treatment
- ABA-pretreated plantse1
- Outcome
- Alternative splicing (AS) and isoform switchinge1
- Direction
- amplifiede1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“barley”
e1“Alternative splicing (AS) and isoform switching were significantly amplified in ABA-pretreated plants”
Claim · model-written summary
Post-stress recovery analysis showed a greater number of differentially expressed genes and differentially alternatively spliced transcripts in ABA-pretreated plants.
- Taxon
- barleyHordeum vulgaret0
- Treatment
- ABA-pretreated plantse1
- Outcome
- differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and alternatively spliced transcripts (DAS)e1
- Direction
- greatere1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“barley”
e1“Post-stress recovery analysis revealed a greater number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and alternatively spliced transcripts (DAS) in ABA-pretreated plants”
Claim · model-written summary
Time- and dose-optimized ABA applications improved yield parameters including grain weight and seed area under drought.
- Taxon
- barleyHordeum vulgaret0
- Treatment
- time- and dose-optimized ABA applicationse1
- Outcome
- yield parameters, including grain weight and seed areae1
- Direction
- improvede1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“barley”
e1“time- and dose-optimized ABA applications improved yield parameters, including grain weight and seed area, while mitigating spike sterility under drought conditions”
Claim · model-written summary
Time- and dose-optimized ABA applications mitigated spike sterility under drought conditions in barley.
- Taxon
- barleyHordeum vulgaret0
- Treatment
- time- and dose-optimized ABA applicationse1
- Outcome
- spike sterilitye1
- Direction
- mitigatinge1
- Qualifier
- under drought conditionse1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“barley”
e1“time- and dose-optimized ABA applications improved yield parameters, including grain weight and seed area, while mitigating spike sterility under drought conditions”
Claim · model-written summary
ABA priming is proposed to accelerate stress-response pathways, promoting alternative splicing, isoform switching and chromatin modifications that enable transcriptome plasticity.
- Taxon
- barleyHordeum vulgaret0
- Treatment
- ABA priminge1
- Outcome
- transcriptome plasticitye1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“barley”
e1“ABA priming accelerates stress-response pathways, promoting alternative splicing, isoform switching, and chromatin modifications that enable transcriptome plasticity”
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