Variability in drought gene expression datasets highlights the need for paired physiology and community standardization.

ABSTRACT: Physiologically relevant drought stress is difficult to apply consistently, and the heterogeneity in experimental design, growth conditions, and sampling schemes makes it challenging to compare water deficit studies in plants. Here, we reanalyzed hundreds of drought gene expression experiments across diverse model and crop species and quantified the variability across studies. We found that drought studies are surprisingly incomparable, even when accounting for differences in genotype, environment, drought severity, and method of drying. Many studies, including most Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) work, lack high-quality phenotypic and physiological datasets to accompany gene expression, making it challenging to assess the severity or consistency of water deficit stress events. To help

SUBMITTER: VanBuren R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12854406 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature