Abstract
Drought is a common abiotic stress which significantly limits global crop productivity. Maize is an important staple crop and its yield is determined by successful development of the female inflorescence, the ear. We investigated drought stress responses across several developmental stages of the maize B73 inbred line under field conditions. Drought suppressed plant growth, but had little impact on progression through developmental stages. While ear growth was suppressed by drought, the process of spikelet initiation was not significantly affected. Tassel growth was reduced to a lesser extent compared to the observed reduction in ear growth under stress. Parallel RNA-seq profiling of leaves, ears, and tassels at several developmental stages revealed tissue-specific differences in response to drought stress. High temperature fluctuation was an additional environmental factor that also likely influenced gene expression patterns in the field. Drought induced significant transcriptional changes in leaves and ears but only minor changes in the tassel. Additionally, more genes were drought responsive in ears compared to leaves over the course of drought treatment. Genes that control DNA replication, cell cycle, and cell division were significantly down-regulated in stressed ears, which was consistent with inhibition of ear growth under drought. Inflorescence meristem genes were affected by drought to a lesser degree which was consistent with the minimal impact of drought on spikelet initiation. In contrast, genes that are involved in floret and ovule development were sensitive to stress, which is consistent with the detrimental effect of drought on gynoecium development and kernel set.
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Claims 14
Claim · model-written summary
Drought suppressed maize plant growth.
Zea maysNot reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Drought suppressed plant growth”
t0“maize”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought had little impact on developmental stage progression.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Drought suppressed plant growth, but had little impact on progression through developmental stages”
t0“maize”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought suppressed ear growth.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“ear growth was suppressed by drought”
t0“maize”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought did not significantly affect spikelet initiation.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“While ear growth was suppressed by drought, the process of spikelet initiation was not significantly affected”
t0“maize”
Claim · model-written summary
Tassel growth declined less than ear growth under drought.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Tassel growth was reduced to a lesser extent compared to the observed reduction in ear growth under stress”
t0“maize”
Claim · model-written summary
RNA sequencing revealed tissue-specific drought responses.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“RNA-seq profiling of leaves, ears, and tassels at several developmental stages revealed tissue-specific differences in response to drought stress”
t0“maize”
Claim · model-written summary
High temperature fluctuation likely influenced field gene expression patterns.
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“High temperature fluctuation was an additional environmental factor that also likely influenced gene expression patterns in the field”
t0“maize”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought significantly changed transcription in leaves and ears.
Not reportedComparatorDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Drought induced significant transcriptional changes in leaves and ears but only minor changes in the tassel”
t0“maize”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought produced only minor transcriptional changes in tassels.
Not reportedComparatorDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Drought induced significant transcriptional changes in leaves and ears but only minor changes in the tassel”
t0“maize”
Claim · model-written summary
More genes responded to drought in ears than leaves.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“more genes were drought responsive in ears compared to leaves over the course of drought treatment”
t0“maize”
Claim · model-written summary
Genes controlling DNA replication, cell cycle and cell division were down-regulated in stressed ears.
- Treatment
- stressede0
- Outcome
- Genes that control DNA replication, cell cycle, and cell divisione0
- Direction
- down-regulatede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Genes that control DNA replication, cell cycle, and cell division were significantly down-regulated in stressed ears”
t0“maize”
Claim · model-written summary
Inflorescence meristem genes were less affected by drought.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Inflorescence meristem genes were affected by drought to a lesser degree”
t0“maize”
Claim · model-written summary
Genes involved in floret and ovule development were sensitive to drought.
Not reportedComparatorDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“genes that are involved in floret and ovule development were sensitive to stress”
t0“maize”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought detrimentally affected gynoecium development and kernel set.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“the detrimental effect of drought on gynoecium development and kernel set”
t0“maize”
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