Transcriptomic analysis of field-droughted sorghum from seedling to maturity reveals biotic and metabolic responses.
Nelle Varoquaux, Benjamin Cole, Cheng Gao, Grady Pierroz, Christopher R Baker, Dhruv Patel, Mary Madera, Tim Jeffers, Joy Hollingsworth, Julie Sievert, Yuko Yoshinaga, Judith A Owiti, Vasanth R Singan, Stephanie DeGraaf, Ling Xu, Matthew J Blow, Maria J Harrison, Axel Visel, Christer Jansson, Krishna K Niyogi, Robert Hutmacher, Devin Coleman-Derr, Ronan C O'Malley, John W Taylor, Jeffery Dahlberg, John P Vogel, Peggy G Lemaux, Elizabeth Purdom
Author Information
Nelle Varoquaux: Department of Statistics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720. ORCID
Benjamin Cole: Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720.
Cheng Gao: Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720. ORCID
Grady Pierroz: Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720.
Christopher R Baker: Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720.
Dhruv Patel: Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720. ORCID
Mary Madera: Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720.
Tim Jeffers: Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720.
Joy Hollingsworth: Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center, University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, Parlier, CA 93648.
Julie Sievert: Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center, University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, Parlier, CA 93648.
Yuko Yoshinaga: Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720. ORCID
Judith A Owiti: Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720.
Vasanth R Singan: Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720.
Stephanie DeGraaf: Department of Statistics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720.
Ling Xu: Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720.
Matthew J Blow: Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720.
Maria J Harrison: Boyce Thompson Institute, Ithaca, NY 14853.
Axel Visel: Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720.
Christer Jansson: Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352. ORCID
Krishna K Niyogi: Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720. ORCID
Robert Hutmacher: West Side Research and Extension Center, University of California, Five Points, CA 93624.
Devin Coleman-Derr: Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720.
Ronan C O'Malley: Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720.
John W Taylor: Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720.
Jeffery Dahlberg: Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center, University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, Parlier, CA 93648.
John P Vogel: Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720. ORCID
Peggy G Lemaux: Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720.
Elizabeth Purdom: Department of Statistics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720. ORCID
Drought is the most important environmental stress limiting crop yields. The C4 cereal sorghum [ (L.) Moench] is a critical food, forage, and emerging bioenergy crop that is notably drought-tolerant. We conducted a large-scale field experiment, imposing preflowering and postflowering drought stress on 2 genotypes of sorghum across a tightly resolved time series, from plant emergence to postanthesis, resulting in a dataset of nearly 400 transcriptomes. We observed a fast and global transcriptomic response in leaf and root tissues with clear temporal patterns, including modulation of well-known drought pathways. We also identified genotypic differences in core photosynthesis and reactive oxygen species scavenging pathways, highlighting possible mechanisms of drought tolerance and of the delayed senescence, characteristic of the stay-green phenotype. Finally, we discovered a large-scale depletion in the expression of genes critical to arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis, with a corresponding drop in AM fungal mass in the plants' roots.
