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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Abiotic Stress
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1475500
This article is part of the Research Topic Advanced Breeding for Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Crops, Volume II View all 8 articles

Effects of drought and salt stress on the root phenotype of wheat seedlings and underlying gene expression analysis

Provisionally accepted
Kaiyue Tang Kaiyue Tang 1Chuanjing An Chuanjing An 2Lixia Li Lixia Li 1*Tao Sun Tao Sun 1*Jiancheng Song Jiancheng Song 1*Jiqiang Zhao Jiqiang Zhao 1*
  • 1 Yantai University, Yantai, Shandong Province, China
  • 2 Chengde Medical University, Chengde, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    In our previous study, three TaPSK genes highly expressed in the roots of wheat were screened. To explore the effects of adverse stress on the wheat root phenotype and the expression of TaPSK3, TaPSK9 and TaPSK10, we measured the phenotypic parameters of the JM22 root system at the seedling stage after treatment with different concentrations of NaCl and PEG6000. The results revealed that drought and salt stress significantly inhibited phenotypic parameters such as total root length, root surface area, root biomass distribution estimation and root tip number in wheat. Notably, salt stress causes wheat roots to germinate more root hairs. Additionally, the relative expression levels of TaPSK3, TaPSK9, and TaPSK10 were analyzed via RT-qPCR within 72 h of treatment with 150 mM NaCl and 30% PEG6000. The results revealed that the expression of TaPSK3 did not change significantly during salt stress but was upregulated approximately five-fold at 12 h of drought stress. The gene expression levels of TaPSK9 and TaPSK10 were upregulated to varying degrees but gradually returned to normal at 72 h. These results show that when wheat is stressed, the expression of TaPSK genes is upregulated to promote root growth and ensure the normal growth and development of plants. This study provides data and theoretical support for further study of TaPSK gene function and cultivation of high-quality wheat plants with strong stress resistance.

    Keywords: wheat, stress, Root phenotype, phytosulfokine, TaPSK

    Received: 04 Aug 2024; Accepted: 25 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Tang, An, Li, Sun, Song and Zhao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Lixia Li, Yantai University, Yantai, 264005, Shandong Province, China
    Tao Sun, Yantai University, Yantai, 264005, Shandong Province, China
    Jiancheng Song, Yantai University, Yantai, 264005, Shandong Province, China
    Jiqiang Zhao, Yantai University, Yantai, 264005, Shandong Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.