Transcriptomic analysis of field-droughted sorghum from seedling to maturity reveals biotic and metabolic responses.

ABSTRACT: Drought is the most important environmental stress limiting crop yields. The C4 cereal sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (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 tol

SUBMITTER: Varoquaux N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6936495 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature