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Physiological performance and differential expression profiling of genes associated with drought tolerance in contrasting varieties of two Gossypium species

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Abstract

Cotton is mostly cultivated under rain-fed conditions in India, thus faces frequent drought conditions during its life cycle. Drought being a major stress factor responsible for yield penalty, there has always been a high priority to generate knowledge on adaptation and tolerance of cotton. In the present study, four cotton varieties, JKC-770 and KC-2 (Gossypium hirsutum), and JKC-717 and RAHS-187(Gossypium herbaceum), were imposed to drought. Under drought condition, differential changes in physiological characters like net photosynthesis, transpiration, stomatal conductance, chlorophyll fluorescence, relative water content (RWC), and predawn water potential (ψ 0) showed a change. While proline, malondialdehyde (MDA), and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) content increased along with a concomitant change in the expression of their associated genes. Under moderate stress, tolerant varieties maintain lower ψ 0 probably due to higher proline content as compared to sensitive varieties. Cyclic electron flow (CEF) also plays an important role in tolerance under mild water stress in G. hirsutum varieties. CEF not only activates at high light but also initiates at a very low light intensity. Expression analysis of genes reveals that drought-tolerant varieties showed enhanced detoxifying mechanism by up-regulation of asparagine synthase (AS), glutathione-S-transferase (GST), and methyl glyoxalase (GlyI) genes under drought stress. Up-regulation of Δ1-pyrroline-5-carboxylase synthase (Δ1P5CS) enhanced accumulation of proline, an osmolyte, under drought in tolerant varieties. While the drought-sensitive varieties showed up-regulation of ethylene responsive factor (ERF) and down-regulation of WRKY70 responsible for senescence of the leaf which correlated well with the high rate of leaf fall in sensitive varieties under water stress.

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Abbreviations

A :

Net photosynthesis rate

ABA:

Abscisic acid

AS:

Asparagine synthase

CDNB:

1-Chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene

CEF:

Cyclic electron flow

DNP-GS:

S-(2,4-dinitrophenyl) glutathione

DW:

Dry weight

E :

Transpiration rate

ERD:

Early response to dehydration

ERF:

Ethylene responsive factor

ETR:

Electron transport rate

F 0 :

Minimum fluorescence of a dark-adapted leaf

F m :

Maximum fluorescence of a dark-adapted leaf under a light saturating flash

F v :

Maximum variable fluorescence

F v/F m :

Maximum photochemical efficiency of PSII

FW:

Fresh weight

GlyI:

Methyl glyoxalase

g s :

Stomatal conductance

GSH:

Reduced glutathione

GST:

Glutathione-S-transferase

H2O2 :

Hydrogen peroxide

MDA:

Malondialdehyde

PGM:

Phosphoglucomutase

PLD:

Phospholipase D

PPFD:

Photosynthetic photon flux density

PS:

Photosystem

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

RWC:

Relative water content

Ser/Thr PPase:

Serine/threonine protein phosphatase

TBA:

2-Thiobarbituric acid

TF:

Transcription factor

TW:

Turgid weight

WUE:

Water use efficiency

Y(II):

Photochemical quantum yield of PSII

Y(NA):

Fraction of P700 reaction centers which cannot be oxidized at given state or photochemical quantum yield of PSI due to acceptor side limitations

Y(ND):

Fraction of overall P700 that is oxidized in a given state or photochemical quantum yield of PSI due to donor side limitations

Y(NPQ):

Photochemical quantum yield due to regulated energy dissipation

Δ1P5CS:

Δ1-Pyrroline-5-carboxylase synthetase

ψ 0 :

Predawn leaf water potential

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi, India (Grant No. OLP 085). A Senior Research Fellowship provided to RS and NP by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi, India, is gratefully acknowledged.

Conflict of interest

The authors wish to state that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Plant Physiology Division, CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, 226001, India

    Ruchi Singh & Pramod A. Shirke

  2. Plant Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering Division, CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, 226001, India

    Neha Pandey

  3. Department of Molecular and Cellular Engineering, Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Naini, Allahabad, 211 007, India

    Jishnu Naskar

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  1. Ruchi Singh
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  2. Neha Pandey
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Correspondence to Pramod A. Shirke.

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Singh, R., Pandey, N., Naskar, J. et al. Physiological performance and differential expression profiling of genes associated with drought tolerance in contrasting varieties of two Gossypium species. Protoplasma 252, 423–438 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00709-014-0686-0

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