Research article2023Peer reviewedOpen access
A phloem-localized Arabidopsis metacaspase (AtMC3) improves drought tolerance
Pitsili, Eugenia; Rodriguez-Trevino, Ricardo; Ruiz-Solani, Nerea; Demir, Fatih; Kastanaki, Elizabeth; Dambire, Charlene; de Pedro-Jove, Roger; Vercammen, Dominique; Salguero-Linares, Jose; Hall, Hardy; Mantz, Melissa; Schuler, Martin; Tuominen, Hannele; Van Breusegem, Frank; Valls, Marc; Munne-Bosch, Sergi; Holdsworth, Michael J.; Huesgen, Pitter F.; Rodriguez-Villalon, Antia; Coll, Nuria S.
Abstract
Increasing drought phenomena pose a serious threat to agricultural productivity. Although plants have multiple ways to respond to the complexity of drought stress, the underlying mechanisms of stress sensing and signaling remain unclear. The role of the vasculature, in particular the phloem, in facilitating inter-organ communication is critical and poorly understood.Combining genetic, proteomic and physiological approaches, we investigated the role of AtMC3, a phloem-specific member of the metacaspase family, in osmotic stress responses in Arabidopsis thaliana. Analyses of the proteome in plants with altered AtMC3 levels revealed differential abundance of proteins related to osmotic stress pointing into a role of the protein in water-stress-related responses.Overexpression of AtMC3 conferred drought tolerance by enhancing the differentiation of specific vascular tissues and maintaining higher levels of vascular-mediated transportation, while plants lacking the protein showed an impaired response to drought and inability to respond effectively to the hormone abscisic acid.Overall, our data highlight the importance of AtMC3 and vascular plasticity in fine-tuning early drought responses at the whole plant level without affecting growth or yield.
Keywords
abscisic acid; Arabidopsis thaliana; drought; hypoxia; metacaspases; osmotic stress; phloem
Published in
New Phytologist
2023, Volume: 239, number: 4, pages: 1281-1299 Publisher: WILEY
UKÄ Subject classification
Agricultural Science
Publication identifier
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.19022
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/127308