Sehar Misbah, Borrill Philippa, Vickers Laura, Kettlewell Peter S
Centre for Crop and Environmental Science, Harper Adams University, Newport, Shropshire TF10 8NB, UK.
Department of Crop Genetics, John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7UH, UK.
Plants (Basel). 2025 Aug 24;14(17):2633. doi: 10.3390/plants14172633.
Drought severely impacts crop yields, especially wheat. Antitranspirants, which reduce water loss, have been shown to improve crop yield under drought, possibly by increasing pollen viability. To understand the mechanisms, transcriptomic responses were studied in early meiotic wheat anthers extracted from polytunnel-grown plants: well-watered, droughted unsprayed, and droughted plants treated with antitranspirants. Film (Vapor Gard (VG), di-1--menthene) and metabolic (Abscisic Acid (ABA), 20% S-ABA) antitranspirants were applied at the flag leaf stage (GS39). Well-watered (WW) plant anthers had more upregulated genes (626 genes) than downregulated ones (226 genes) when compared to droughted unsprayed ones. Most of the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were transcriptionally downregulated (3959 genes) in droughted, treated-plant anthers (ABA and VG) compared with unsprayed (US), and the number of genes with upregulated expression was lower (830 genes). VG-treated plant anthers had more downregulated genes (3325 genes) than ABA-treated ones (634 genes). Carbohydrate or sugar metabolism and related processes were affected in antitranspirant-treated plant anthers with significant downregulation of genes compared to droughted unsprayed ones; in contrast, these processes were upregulated in well-watered anthers, suggesting broad differences in the transcriptional response. However, antitranspirants did not significantly affect pollen viability or yield in treated plants compared to unsprayed plants, suggesting that anthers are more sensitive at the transcriptomic level than subsequent physiological processes determining yield.
干旱严重影响作物产量，尤其是小麦。抗蒸腾剂可减少水分流失，已证明其能在干旱条件下提高作物产量，这可能是通过提高花粉活力实现的。为了解其中的机制，对从塑料薄膜温室种植的植株上提取的减数分裂早期小麦花药进行了转录组反应研究，这些植株分为：水分充足、干旱未喷施抗蒸腾剂、干旱且喷施抗蒸腾剂处理的植株。在旗叶期（生长阶段39）喷施了薄膜型（气相卫士（VG），二-1-薄荷烯）和代谢型（脱落酸（ABA），20% S-ABA）抗蒸腾剂。与干旱未喷施抗蒸腾剂的花药相比，水分充足（WW）植株的花药上调基因（626个基因）多于下调基因（226个基因）。与未喷施（US）相比，干旱且喷施抗蒸腾剂处理的植株（ABA和VG）花药中大多数差异表达基因（DEGs）转录下调（3959个基因），上调表达的基因数量较少（830个基因）。VG处理的植株花药下调基因（3325个基因）比ABA处理的植株（634个基因）更多。与干旱未喷施抗蒸腾剂的花药相比，抗蒸腾剂处理的植株花药中碳水化合物或糖代谢及相关过程受到影响，基因显著下调；相反，这些过程在水分充足的花药中上调，表明转录反应存在广泛差异。然而，与未喷施抗蒸腾剂的植株相比，抗蒸腾剂对处理植株的花粉活力或产量没有显著影响，这表明花药在转录组水平比随后决定产量的生理过程更敏感。
