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The mechanisms for the difference in waterlogging tolerance among sea barley, wheat and barley

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Abstract

Waterlogging is a major abiotic stress limiting crop growth and yield. There is a distinct difference among cereal crops in their responses to waterlogging stress, however, little is known about the mechanisms underlying waterlogging tolerance. Here, we investigated the influence of waterlogging stress on seedling growth and physiological traits of three cereal plants with distinct waterlogging tolerance, i.e. sea barley (Hordeum marinum, H559), wheat (Triticum aestivum, Chinese Spring) and barley (Hordeum vulgare, ZU9). Sea barley is much stronger in waterlogging-tolerance than wheat, with barley being the least. Under waterlogging biomass, shoot and root length, contents of chlorophyll and soluble protein were significantly reduced, and MDA content and POD activity were significantly increased in barley and wheat seedlings in comparison with the control, but these parameters remained little change in sea barley under waterlogging in comparison with the control. Expression levels of hypoxia-responding related genes, such as ADH1, XET1 and ERF1 were more induced under waterlogging treatment in sea barley than those in wheat and barley. Constitutive aerenchyma could be observed in the roots of sea barley under normal condition, and aerenchyma was more developed under waterlogging. However, there was no aerenchyma in the roots of barley and wheat in both control and waterlogging treatments. Obviously, higher waterlogging tolerance in sea barley could be attributed to its constitutive and induced aerenchyma.

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Abbreviations

ACO:

1-Aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid oxidase

ADH1:

Alcohol dehydrogenase 1

ARs:

Adventitious roots

CAT:

Catalase

CC:

Chlorophyll content

DW:

Dry weight

ERF1:

Ethylene-responsive factor 1

FW:

Fresh weight

LDH1:

Lactate dehydrogenase 1

MC:

MDA content

MDA:

Malondialdehyde

NR:

Nitrate reductase

NRA:

Nitrate reductase activity

PA:

POD activity

PDC1:

Pyruvate decarboxylase 1

POD:

Peroxidase

RAP2.3:

Related to apetala2.3

RDW:

Root dry weight

RFW:

Root fresh weight

RRWC:

Root relative water content

RL:

Root length

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

RWC:

Relative water content

SAUR:

Small auxin up RNA

SDW:

Shoot dry weight

SFW:

Shoot fresh weight

SL:

Shoot length

SOD:

Superoxide dismutase

SPAD:

Soil plant analysis development

SPC:

Soluble protein content

SRWC:

Shoot relative water content

XET:

Xyloglucan endotransglycosylase

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Natural Science Foundation of China (32171929, 31901429), China Agriculture Research System (CARS-05), Key Research Projects of Zhejiang Province (2021C02057) and Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Modern Crop Production (JCIC-MCP).

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  1. Department of Agronomy, Key Laboratory of Crop Resource of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China

    Zhengyuan Xu, Qiufang Shen & Guoping Zhang

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  1. Zhengyuan Xu
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  2. Qiufang Shen
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Correspondence to Qiufang Shen.

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Xu, Z., Shen, Q. & Zhang, G. The mechanisms for the difference in waterlogging tolerance among sea barley, wheat and barley. Plant Growth Regul 96, 431–441 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-021-00789-3

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