Abstract
As plants are sessile, they cannot escape exposure to multiple environmental stresses. Over the course of evolution, a range of morphological and physiological adaptations has been developed in order to maximize their chances of survival. Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is the most extensively cultivated forage legume in the world, while its yield and growing range are limited by abiotic stress. Physiology, genetic and molecular level studies have revealed complex regulatory processes that coordinate stress adaptation and tolerance, which are integrated at various levels. This review summarizes the current body of knowledge regarding the physiological, transcriptional, metabolic and genetic/epigenetic basis of the alfalfa stress response, along with the key signal transduction processes involved. Gathering the knowledge together will contribute to a more systematic understanding of the adaption to stress response in alfalfa, as well as provide guidance towards improving the crop through breeding.
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Abbreviations
- SNP:
-
Single nucleotide polymorphism
- QTL:
-
Quantitative trait loci
- GWAS:
-
Genome-wide association studies
- GBS:
-
Genotyping-by-sequencing
- MAPKs:
-
Mitogen-activated protein kinases
- ROS:
-
Reactive oxygen species
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Acknowledgements
This study was funded by the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2015JL012), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 31300220, 31501328), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2014M550366).
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Supplementary material 1 Fig. S1. Simplified schematic diagram of abiotic stress response in alfalfa. Under abiotic stress, some phytohormone (such as ABA/melatonin/auxin/cytokinin), gaseous (such as H2S/NO/CH4/CO) acts as a signal to transmit the stress signal. Genes involved in cell wall synthesis such as MfINT/MfGolS1/WXP1; Ion homeostasis such as RstB/NHX/VP1; Osmotic regulation such as MsP5CS/MsHSP17; ROS scavenging such as MsPOD/MsSOD; Synthesis of endogenous hormones such as HCT/ETC; epigenetic modification such as MsMiR156 were activated. On the one hand, some products of these genes can directly respond to stress; on the other hand, they can further participate in signal transduction to regulate the expression of the downstream stress-responsive genes. HCT: Hydroxycinnamoyl transferase; HO-1: Heme Oxygenase 1; SNAT: Melatonin biosynthetic enzymes; Mcsu1: Molybdenum cofactor sulfurase; MsPOD: Peroxidase; MsSOD: Super Oxide Dismutase; MsGME: GDP-mannose-3′,5′-epimerase; MsMH1: Helicase enzyme; MsP5CS: delta 1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthase; MsK4: GSK-3-like kinase; GsGSTU: Glutathione transferase; PAPT: Putrescine aminopropyl transferase; MsHSP: Heat shock protein; MsLEA: Late embryogenesis abundant; RstB: Rhizobium salt tolerance B; NHX: Na+/H + exchanger; VP1: H+-PPas; INT: myo-inositol transporter-like protein; GolS1: Galactinol synthase; WXP1: Wax Production 1 (JPG 409 kb)
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Song, Y., Lv, J., Ma, Z. et al. The mechanism of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) response to abiotic stress. Plant Growth Regul 89, 239–249 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-019-00530-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-019-00530-1