Project description:A cultivation facility that can assist users in controlling the soil water condition is needed for accurately phenotyping plants under drought stress in an artificial environment. Here we report the Internet of Things (IoT)-based pot system controlling optional treatment of soil water condition (iPOTs), an automatic irrigation system that mimics the drought condition in a growth chamber. The Wi-Fi-enabled iPOTs system allows water supply from the bottom of the pot, based on the soil water level set by the user, and automatically controls the soil water level at a desired depth. The iPOTs also allows users to monitor environmental parameters, such as soil temperature, air temperature, humidity, and light intensity, in each pot. To verify whether the iPOTs mimics the drought condition, we conducted a drought stress test on rice varieties and near-isogenic lines, with diverse root system architecture, using the iPOTs system installed in a growth chamber. Similar to the results of a previous drought stress field trial, the growth of shallow-rooted rice accessions was severely affected by drought stress compared with that of deep-rooted accessions. The microclimate data obtained using the iPOTs system increased the accuracy of plant growth evaluation. Transcriptome analysis revealed that pot positions in the growth chamber had little impact on plant growth. Together, these results suggest that the iPOTs system represents a reliable platform for phenotyping plants under drought stress.
Project description:Five different developmental stages, neurula (1), hatching (48 h post-fertilization) (2), pectoral fin budding (96 h post-fertilization) (4), mouth opening (144 h post-fertilization) (6), and eye pigmentation (168 h post-fertilization) (7) were compared directly to each other in all possible combinations (Loop design).All experiments were perfomed by dye swap hybridizations. Keywords: time-course
Project description:To better undersand the effects of drought stress on wheat developing seeds, the transcription profile of early developing wheat seeds under control and drought stress conditions were comparatively analyzed by using the Affymetrix wheat geneChip. Drought stress is a major yield-limiting factor for wheat. Wheat yields are particularly sensitive to drought stress during reproductive development. Early seed development stage is an important determinant of seed size, one of the yield components. We specifically examined the impact of drought stress imposed during postzygotic early seed development in wheat. We imposed a short-term drought stress on plants with day-old seeds and observed that even a short-duration drought stress significantly reduced the size of developing seeds as well as mature seeds. Drought stress delayed the developmental transition from syncytial to cellularized stage of endosperm. Coincident with reduced seed size and delayed endosperm development, a subset of genes associated with cytoskeleton organization was misregulated in developing seeds under drought-stressed. Several genes linked to hormone pathways were also differentially regulated in response to drought stress in early seeds. Notably, drought stress strongly repressed the expression of wheat storage protein genes such as gliadins, glutenins and avenins as early as 3 days after pollination. Our results provide new insights on how some of the early seed developmental events are impacted by water stress, and the underlying molecular pathways that can possibly impact both grain size and quality in wheat. Winter wheat cultivar Redland, PI 502907 (Triticum aestivum L.) was used for this study. Seedlings were vernalized at 4°C for 6 weeks and then transplanted to a one gallon pot of soil-sand mixture (3:1, v/v) and grown in a growth chamber under the following conditions: relative humidity, 50–70%; 16-h light/8-h dark photoperiod; 21°C daytime temperature and 18°C nights. Plants were watered regularly twice daily at the rate of 100ml/ per pot. Because, wheat has an asynchronous fertilization pattern for ovlues in the inflorescence, each floret needs to be specifically marked for timing the fertilization and stress induction. After spikes developed, unfertilized ovules were monitored and observed for the fertilization process. Closed wheat spikes with anthers outside were marked as fertilized. Drought stress was imposed 24h after the fertilization (HAF). Drought stress treatment was initiated by discontinuing watering on the drought treatment plants while control plants were regularly watered twice daily. Stress treatment was applied at 48 HAF and relieved at 96 HAF. The microarray study focuses on 24 HAF to 72 HAF in control and drought stress conditions. We started to impose drought stress 24HAF.