Ultrafast Omics Reveals Key Players in the Response of Plants to Abiotic Stress

University Of North Texas, Denton TX

Investigators

Abstract

Environmental stresses such as heat or light stress can have a devastating impact on plant growth and yield under field conditions. Although much is known about the different signaling events that mediate plant responses to these stresses, virtually nothing is known about the rapid changes that occur in plants within seconds or minutes of stress initiation. Recent studies from the principal investigator's laboratories identified over 600 different genes, including 30 putative new Arabidopsis genes that respond to abiotic stress within seconds. Some of these responses occurred at the affected tissue as well as in tissues that were not directly subjected to stress and included metabolites and transcripts with important function in abiotic stress tolerance. Interestingly, many of these ultrafast responses were altered in mutants impaired in reactive oxygen signaling, which were more susceptible to stress, indicating that reactive oxygen species, ultrafast responses and plant acclimation are intimately linked. The hypothesis in this project is that the ultrafast molecular and physiological alterations that occur in plants within seconds or minutes of stress initiation set the stage for many of the known signaling events that orchestrate the activation of acclimation responses to environmental stresses and impact plant growth and productivity. The proposed research will highlight an unknown aspect of the plant abiotic stress response, namely ultrafast molecular and metabolic responses to stress. This could have a dramatic and transformative impact on the way we view and understand abiotic stress and its effects on plant metabolism. Results obtained from this study could lead to the development of new and novel approaches to enhance the tolerance of crops to local and/or global climatic changes using pathways and compounds that were not previously considered or known. The proposed study could also identify novel antioxidants and other compounds that function to reduce the effects of stress on cellular function. These could have a significant impact on many different biochemical and medical fields. The proposed project will provide training to 1 postdoctoral fellow, 1 graduate student, 4 undergraduates and 12 high school students including minorities. Outreach-based learning modules focusing on the importance of agriculture to our society, the effect of climatic change on agriculture, the use of genetic tools to improve crops, and the use of advanced imaging tools to study plant biology will be offered by the PIs to K-12 students through the outreach programs offered by the Elm Fork Education Center and the Elm Fork Natural Heritage Museum. These programs will also be offered to K-12 teachers nationwide.