Abstract
Drought is a major threat to maize growth and production. Understanding the molecular regulation network of drought tolerance in maize is of great importance. In this study, two maize inbred lines with contrasting drought tolerance were tested in the field under natural soil drought and well-watered conditions. In addition, the transcriptomes of their leaves was analyzed by RNA-Seq. In total, 555 and 2,558 genes were detected to specifically respond to drought in the tolerant and the sensitive line, respectively, with a more positive regulation tendency in the tolerant genotype. Furthermore, 4,700, 4,748, 4,403 and 4,288 genes showed differential expression between the two lines under moderate drought, severe drought and their well-watered controls, respectively. Transcription factors were enriched in both genotypic differentially expressed genes and specifically responsive genes of the tolerant line. It was speculated that the genotype-specific response of 20 transcription factors in the tolerance line and the sustained genotypically differential expression of 22 transcription factors might enhance tolerance to drought in maize. Our results provide new insight into maize drought tolerance-related regulation systems and provide gene resources for subsequent studies and drought tolerance improvement.
Highlights
Maize (Zea mays L.) is one of the most important cereal crops worldwide for food and feed [1] due to global climate warming and water scarcity, the frequent occurrences of droughts have become a major threat for maize production [2]
The leaf relative water content (RWC) of both lines decreased from 96–98% to 82–84% when the drought lasted, and the RWCs of the two genotypes under drought were significantly (P < 0.01) lower than their well-watered controls from 16 days after drought (DAD) to 46 DAD (S1 Table)
The results showed that 4,700, 4,748, 4,403 and 4,288 genes were differentially expressed in the comparing groups of H082183 under moderate drought (HMD)-Lv28 under moderate drought (LMD), H082183 under well-watered control of moderate drought (HMC)-Lv28 under well-watered control of moderate drought (LMC), H082183 under severe drought (HSD)-Lv28 under severe drought (LSD) and H082183 under well-watered control of severe drought (HSC)-Lv28 under wellwatered control of severe drought (LSC), respectively (Fig 4A)
Summary
Maize (Zea mays L.) is one of the most important cereal crops worldwide for food and feed [1] due to global climate warming and water scarcity, the frequent occurrences of droughts have become a major threat for maize production [2]. Despite steadily rise of maize yields over the past decades, the sensitivity of maize to drought stress has increased [3]. Genome-wide gene expression of maize under drought
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