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Temme AA, Kerr KL, Nolting KM, Dittmar EL, Masalia RR, Bucksch AK, Burke JM, Donovan LA. The genomic basis of nitrogen utilization efficiency and trait plasticity to improve nutrient stress tolerance in cultivated sunflower. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY 2024; 75:2527-2544. [PMID: 38270266 DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erae025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2022] [Accepted: 01/23/2024] [Indexed: 01/26/2024]
Abstract
Maintaining crop productivity is challenging as population growth, climate change, and increasing fertilizer costs necessitate expanding crop production to poorer lands whilst reducing inputs. Enhancing crops' nutrient use efficiency is thus an important goal, but requires a better understanding of related traits and their genetic basis. We investigated variation in low nutrient stress tolerance in a diverse panel of cultivated sunflower genotypes grown under high and low nutrient conditions, assessing relative growth rate (RGR) as performance. We assessed variation in traits related to nitrogen utilization efficiency (NUtE), mass allocation, and leaf elemental content. Across genotypes, nutrient limitation generally reduced RGR. Moreover, there was a negative correlation between vigor (RGR in control) and decline in RGR in response to stress. Given this trade-off, we focused on nutrient stress tolerance independent of vigor. This tolerance metric correlated with the change in NUtE, plasticity for a suite of morphological traits, and leaf element content. Genome-wide associations revealed regions associated with variation and plasticity in multiple traits, including two regions with seemingly additive effects on NUtE change. Our results demonstrate potential avenues for improving sunflower nutrient stress tolerance independent of vigor, and highlight specific traits and genomic regions that could play a role in enhancing tolerance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andries A Temme
- Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
- Department of Plant Breeding, Wageningen University & Research, 6700 HB Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Kelly L Kerr
- Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
| | - Kristen M Nolting
- Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
| | - Emily L Dittmar
- Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
| | - Rishi R Masalia
- Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
| | | | - John M Burke
- Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
| | - Lisa A Donovan
- Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
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2
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Ludwig E, Sumner J, Berry J, Polydore S, Ficor T, Agnew E, Haines K, Greenham K, Fahlgren N, Mockler TC, Gehan MA. Natural variation in Brachypodium distachyon responses to combined abiotic stresses. THE PLANT JOURNAL : FOR CELL AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2024; 117:1676-1701. [PMID: 37483133 DOI: 10.1111/tpj.16387] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2023] [Revised: 06/26/2023] [Accepted: 07/05/2023] [Indexed: 07/25/2023]
Abstract
The demand for agricultural production is becoming more challenging as climate change increases global temperature and the frequency of extreme weather events. This study examines the phenotypic variation of 149 accessions of Brachypodium distachyon under drought, heat, and the combination of stresses. Heat alone causes the largest amounts of tissue damage while the combination of stresses causes the largest decrease in biomass compared to other treatments. Notably, Bd21-0, the reference line for B. distachyon, did not have robust growth under stress conditions, especially the heat and combined drought and heat treatments. The climate of origin was significantly associated with B. distachyon responses to the assessed stress conditions. Additionally, a GWAS found loci associated with changes in plant height and the amount of damaged tissue under stress. Some of these SNPs were closely located to genes known to be involved in responses to abiotic stresses and point to potential causative loci in plant stress response. However, SNPs found to be significantly associated with a response to heat or drought individually are not also significantly associated with the combination of stresses. This, with the phenotypic data, suggests that the effects of these abiotic stresses are not simply additive, and the responses to the combined stresses differ from drought and heat alone.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ella Ludwig
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, Missouri, 63132, USA
| | - Joshua Sumner
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, Missouri, 63132, USA
| | - Jeffrey Berry
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, Missouri, 63132, USA
- Bayer Crop Sciences, St. Louis, Missouri, 63017, USA
| | - Seth Polydore
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, Missouri, 63132, USA
| | - Tracy Ficor
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, Missouri, 63132, USA
| | - Erica Agnew
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, Missouri, 63132, USA
| | - Kristina Haines
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, Missouri, 63132, USA
| | - Kathleen Greenham
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, Missouri, 63132, USA
- University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, 55108, USA
| | - Noah Fahlgren
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, Missouri, 63132, USA
| | - Todd C Mockler
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, Missouri, 63132, USA
| | - Malia A Gehan
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, Missouri, 63132, USA
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3
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Jadhao KR, Kale SS, Chavan NS, Janjal PH. Genome-wide analysis of the SPL transcription factor family and its response to water stress in sunflower (Helianthus annuus). Cell Stress Chaperones 2023; 28:943-958. [PMID: 37938528 PMCID: PMC10746691 DOI: 10.1007/s12192-023-01388-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2023] [Revised: 10/10/2023] [Accepted: 10/11/2023] [Indexed: 11/09/2023] Open
Abstract
SPL (SQUAMOSA promoter binding proteins-like) are plant-specific transcription factors that play essential roles in a variety of developmental processes as well as the ability to withstand biotic and abiotic stresses. To date, numerous species have been investigated for the SPL gene family, but so far, no SPL family genes have been thoroughly identified and characterized in the sunflower (Helianthus annuus). In this study, 25 SPL genes were identified in the sunflower genome and were unevenly distributed on 11 chromosomes. According to phylogeny analysis, 59 SPL genes from H. annuus, O. sativa, and A. thaliana were clustered into seven groups. Furthermore, the SPL genes in groups-I and II were demonstrated to be potential targets of miR156. Synteny analysis showed that 7 paralogous gene pairs exist in HaSPL genes and 26 orthologous gene pairs exist between sunflower and rice, whereas 21 orthologous gene pairs were found between sunflower and Arabidopsis. Segmental duplication appears to have played a vital role in the expansion processes of sunflower SPL genes, and because of selection pressure, all duplicated genes have undergone purifying selection. Tissue-specific gene expression analysis of the HaSBP genes proved their diverse spatiotemporal expression patterns, which were predominantly expressed in floral organs and differentially expressed in stem, axil, and root tissues. The expression pattern of HaSPL genes under water stress showed broad involvement of HaSPLs in the response to flood and drought stresses. This genome-wide identification investigation provides detailed information on the sunflower SPL transcription factor gene family and establishes a strong platform for future research on sunflower responses to abiotic stress tolerance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kundansing R Jadhao
- Department of Bioinformatics, MGM College of Agricultural Biotechnology, Aurangabad, 431007, India.
| | - Sonam S Kale
- Department of Plant Biotechnology, MGM College of Agricultural Biotechnology, Aurangabad, 431003, India
| | - Nilesh S Chavan
- Department of Microbiology and Environmental Biotechnology, MGM College of Agricultural Biotechnology, Aurangabad, 431003, India
| | - Pandharinath H Janjal
- Department of Bioinformatics, MGM College of Agricultural Biotechnology, Aurangabad, 431007, India
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Gao L, Kantar MB, Moxley D, Ortiz-Barrientos D, Rieseberg LH. Crop adaptation to climate change: An evolutionary perspective. MOLECULAR PLANT 2023; 16:1518-1546. [PMID: 37515323 DOI: 10.1016/j.molp.2023.07.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2023] [Revised: 06/20/2023] [Accepted: 07/26/2023] [Indexed: 07/30/2023]
Abstract
The disciplines of evolutionary biology and plant and animal breeding have been intertwined throughout their development, with responses to artificial selection yielding insights into the action of natural selection and evolutionary biology providing statistical and conceptual guidance for modern breeding. Here we offer an evolutionary perspective on a grand challenge of the 21st century: feeding humanity in the face of climate change. We first highlight promising strategies currently under way to adapt crops to current and future climate change. These include methods to match crop varieties with current and predicted environments and to optimize breeding goals, management practices, and crop microbiomes to enhance yield and sustainable production. We also describe the promise of crop wild relatives and recent technological innovations such as speed breeding, genomic selection, and genome editing for improving environmental resilience of existing crop varieties or for developing new crops. Next, we discuss how methods and theory from evolutionary biology can enhance these existing strategies and suggest novel approaches. We focus initially on methods for reconstructing the evolutionary history of crops and their pests and symbionts, because such historical information provides an overall framework for crop-improvement efforts. We then describe how evolutionary approaches can be used to detect and mitigate the accumulation of deleterious mutations in crop genomes, identify alleles and mutations that underlie adaptation (and maladaptation) to agricultural environments, mitigate evolutionary trade-offs, and improve critical proteins. Continuing feedback between the evolution and crop biology communities will ensure optimal design of strategies for adapting crops to climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lexuan Gao
- CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200032, China
| | - Michael B Kantar
- Department of Tropical Plant & Soil Sciences, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA
| | - Dylan Moxley
- Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Daniel Ortiz-Barrientos
- School of Biological Sciences and Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Plant Success in Nature and Agriculture, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Loren H Rieseberg
- Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
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Bercovich N, Genze N, Todesco M, Owens GL, Légaré JS, Huang K, Rieseberg LH, Grimm DG. HeliantHOME, a public and centralized database of phenotypic sunflower data. Sci Data 2022; 9:735. [PMID: 36450875 PMCID: PMC9712528 DOI: 10.1038/s41597-022-01842-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2022] [Accepted: 11/11/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Genomic studies often attempt to link natural genetic variation with important phenotypic variation. To succeed, robust and reliable phenotypic data, as well as curated genomic assemblies, are required. Wild sunflowers, originally from North America, are adapted to diverse and often extreme environments and have historically been a widely used model plant system for the study of population genomics, adaptation, and speciation. Moreover, cultivated sunflower, domesticated from a wild relative (Helianthus annuus) is a global oil crop, ranking fourth in production of vegetable oils worldwide. Public availability of data resources both for the plant research community and for the associated agricultural sector, are extremely valuable. We have created HeliantHOME ( http://www.helianthome.org ), a curated, public, and interactive database of phenotypes including developmental, structural and environmental ones, obtained from a large collection of both wild and cultivated sunflower individuals. Additionally, the database is enriched with external genomic data and results of genome-wide association studies. Finally, being a community open-source platform, HeliantHOME is expected to expand as new knowledge and resources become available.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalia Bercovich
- grid.17091.3e0000 0001 2288 9830Department of Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia Canada ,grid.17091.3e0000 0001 2288 9830Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Nikita Genze
- grid.6936.a0000000123222966Technical University of Munich, Campus Straubing for Biotechnology and Sustainability, Bioinformatics, Straubing, Germany ,grid.4819.40000 0001 0704 7467Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences, Straubing, Germany
| | - Marco Todesco
- grid.17091.3e0000 0001 2288 9830Department of Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia Canada ,grid.17091.3e0000 0001 2288 9830Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Gregory L. Owens
- grid.17091.3e0000 0001 2288 9830Department of Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia Canada ,grid.17091.3e0000 0001 2288 9830Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada ,grid.143640.40000 0004 1936 9465Department of Biology, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC Canada
| | - Jean-Sébastien Légaré
- grid.17091.3e0000 0001 2288 9830Department of Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia Canada ,grid.17091.3e0000 0001 2288 9830Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada ,grid.17091.3e0000 0001 2288 9830Department of Computer Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia Canada ,grid.17091.3e0000 0001 2288 9830Data Science Institute, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia Canada
| | - Kaichi Huang
- grid.17091.3e0000 0001 2288 9830Department of Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia Canada ,grid.17091.3e0000 0001 2288 9830Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Loren H. Rieseberg
- grid.17091.3e0000 0001 2288 9830Department of Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia Canada ,grid.17091.3e0000 0001 2288 9830Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Dominik G. Grimm
- grid.6936.a0000000123222966Technical University of Munich, Campus Straubing for Biotechnology and Sustainability, Bioinformatics, Straubing, Germany ,grid.4819.40000 0001 0704 7467Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences, Straubing, Germany ,grid.6936.a0000000123222966Technical University of Munich, Department of Informatics, Garching, Germany
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Hodgins KA, Guggisberg A, Nurkowski K, Rieseberg LH. Genetically Based Trait Differentiation but Lack of Trade-offs between Stress Tolerance and Performance in Introduced Canada Thistle. PLANT COMMUNICATIONS 2020; 1:100116. [PMID: 33367269 PMCID: PMC7748015 DOI: 10.1016/j.xplc.2020.100116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2020] [Revised: 10/16/2020] [Accepted: 10/23/2020] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Trade-offs between performance and tolerance of abiotic and biotic stress have been proposed to explain both the success of invasive species and frequently observed size differences between native and introduced populations. Canada thistle seeds collected from across the introduced North American and the native European range were grown in benign and stressful conditions (nutrient stress, shading, simulated herbivory, drought, and mowing), to evaluate whether native and introduced individuals differ in performance or stress tolerance. An additional experiment assessed the strength of maternal effects by comparing plants derived from field-collected seeds with those derived from clones grown in the glasshouse. Introduced populations tended to be larger in size, but no trade-off of stress tolerance with performance was detected; introduced populations had either superior performance or equivalent trait values and survivorship in the treatment common gardens. We also detected evidence of parallel latitudinal clines of some traits in both the native and introduced ranges and associations with climate variables in some treatments, consistent with recent climate adaptation within the introduced range. Our results are consistent with rapid adaptation of introduced populations, but, contrary to predictions, the evolution of invasive traits did not come at the cost of reduced stress tolerance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathryn A. Hodgins
- School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Alessia Guggisberg
- Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Kristin Nurkowski
- Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Loren H. Rieseberg
- Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
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