Abstract
Drought stress is one of the main factors limiting crop production, which provokes a number of changes in plants at physiological, anatomical, biochemical and molecular level. To unravel the various mechanisms underpinning tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) drought stress tolerance, we conducted a comprehensive physiological, anatomical, biochemical and transcriptome analyses of three tobacco cultivars (i.e., HongHuaDaJinYuan (H), NC55 (N) and Yun Yan-100 (Y)) seedlings that had been exposed to drought stress. As a result, H maintained higher growth in term of less reduction in plant fresh weight, dry weight and chlorophyll content as compared with N and Y. Anatomical studies unveiled that drought stress had little effect on H by maintaining proper leaf anatomy while there were significant changes in the leaf anatomy of N and Y. Similarly, H among the three varieties was the least affected variety under drought stress, with more proline content accumulation and a powerful antioxidant defense system, which mitigates the negative impacts of reactive oxygen species. The transcriptomic analysis showed that the differential genes expression between HongHuaDaJinYuan, NC55 and Yun Yan-100 were enriched in the functions of plant hormone signal transduction, starch and sucrose metabolism, and arginine and proline metabolism. Compared to N and Y, the differentially expressed genes of H displayed enhanced expression in the corresponding pathways under drought stress. Together, our findings offer insights that H was more tolerant than the other two varieties, as evidenced at physiological, biochemical, anatomical and molecular level. These findings can help us to enhance our understanding of the molecular mechanisms through the networks of various metabolic pathways mediating drought stress adaptation in tobacco.
Highlights
Drought is one of the most eminent environmental stresses and defined as a deficit of water relative to normal conditions [1] or a sustained period of below-normal water availability [2]
The transcriptomic analysis using RNA sequencing was performed on the leaves of the three tobacco cultivars, i.e., NC55 (N), HongHuaDaJinYuan (H) and Yun Yan-100 (Y) plants under drought stress in order to investigate the pathways involved in responses to drought stress and explore the drought tolerance mechanism and other inputs will serve as useful resources for establishing functional role of the molecular events during drought stress responses in tobacco
To analyze different responses of the three tobacco varieties in response to drought stress at the different time points, plants were divided into two groups, one group of plants was subjected to drought stress and the other group of plants was kept as a control
Summary
Drought is one of the most eminent environmental stresses and defined as a deficit of water relative to normal conditions [1] or a sustained period of below-normal water availability [2]. Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) is a broad nonfood grown crop of Solanaceae: an economically important family of flowering plants It is used as a model plant for physiological and genetic studies [8]. When plants face unfavorable conditions, it perceives stress signals from the surroundings; various physiological, biochemical and molecular modifications occur Some of these changes just represent a consequence of the cell damage, while other show adaptive processes that plants evolved in response to the stressful environmental cues. Plants respond and adapt to drought by inducing both regulatory and functional genes via perception, signal transduction, expression of downstream drought responsive genes network and production of metabolites that protect and maintain the structure of cellular components [14]. The transcriptomic analysis using RNA sequencing was performed on the leaves of the three tobacco cultivars, i.e., NC55 (N), HongHuaDaJinYuan (H) and Yun Yan-100 (Y) plants under drought stress in order to investigate the pathways involved in responses to drought stress and explore the drought tolerance mechanism and other inputs will serve as useful resources for establishing functional role of the molecular events during drought stress responses in tobacco
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
