PubMed · 3986394
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B R Tickes. 1985. Zinc phosphide in subterranean burrow systems.. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf01609775
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Genome doubling did not enhance drought tolerance in alfalfa, but may set the stage for long-term adaptation to drought through a novel transcriptional landscape. Whole genome duplication (WGD) has been shown to enhance stress tolerance in plants. Cultivated alfalfa is autotetraploid, but diploid wild relatives are important sources of genetic variation for breeding. Investigating how WGD affects gene expression in stress conditions could provide better understanding for use of diploid genetic resources. In this work, we compared the drought response of neotetraploid plants obtained by bilateral sexual polyploidization with diploid full sibs, by measuring physiological and biochemical traits and RNA-seq. Without drought, 4x plants had lower photosynthetic potential than 2x plants per unit leaf area, but larger leaves allowed them to outperform the per leaf photosynthetic potential of 2x plants. Physiological and biochemical traits were significantly affected by drought in both 2x and 4x plants, but the differences between ploidies were small and nonsignificant. Proline levels were higher in 4x than 2x plants, both in control and drought conditions, indicating that larger cells with higher volume-to-surface ratio of 4x  plants require a higher osmolyte concentration. RNA-seq and gene network analyses showed that more genes were affected by drought at 4x than at 2x level, with downregulation of hundreds of genes involved in photosynthesis and stomatal movement at 4x level, suggesting that WGD made the 4x plants more responsive to drought. Genes involved in proline, phytormone and cell wall functions were also transcriptionally affected by drought in 4x plants. We conclude that WGD did not immediately enhance drought tolerance in alfalfa, but may set the stage for long-term adaptation to drought through a novel transcriptional landscape.
UNLABELLED: BACKGROUND AND AIMS The negative logarithmic relationship between orthodox seed longevity and moisture content in hermetic storage is subject to a low-moisture-content limit (m(c)), but is m(c) affected by temperature? METHODS: Red clover (Trifolium pratense) and alfalfa (Medicago sativa) seeds were stored hermetically at 12 moisture contents (2-15 %) and five temperatures (-20, 30, 40, 50 and 65 degrees C) for up to 14.5 years, and loss in viability was estimated. KEY RESULTS: Viability did not change during 14.5 years hermetic storage at -20 degrees C with moisture contents from 2.2 to 14.9 % for red clover, or 2.0 to 12.0 % for alfalfa. Negative logarithmic relationships between longevity and moisture contents >m(c) were detected at 30-65 degrees C, with discontinuities at low moisture contents; m(c) varied between 4.0 and 5.4 % (red clover) or 4.2 and 5.5 % (alfalfa), depending upon storage temperature. Within the ranges investigated, a reduction in moisture content below m(c) at any one temperature had no effect on longevity. Estimates of m(c) were greater the cooler the temperature, the relationship (P < 0.01) being curvilinear. Above m(c), the estimates of C(H) and C(Q) (i.e. the temperature term of the seed viability equation) did not differ (P > 0.10) between species, whereas those of K(E) and C(W) did (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The low-moisture-content limit to negative logarithmic relationships between seed longevity and moisture content in hermetic storage increased the cooler the storage temperature, by approx. 1.5 % over 35 degrees C (4.0-4.2 % at 65 degrees C to 5.4-5.5 % at 30-40 degrees C) in these species. Further reduction in moisture content was not damaging. The variation in m(c) implies greater sensitivity of longevity to temperature above, compared with below, m(c). This was confirmed (P < 0.005).
Instability of cryptic plasmids in Sinorhizobium meliloti laboratory strains SKhM1-188, DM7-R, and P108 as well as in their clones isolated from nodules of alfalfa grown during a long-term microvegetation experiment (120 days) was studied. The isolated clones of strains SKhM1-188 and DM7-R manifested stable inheritance of plasmids, whereas 12.7-14.0% of clones with changed plasmid profile were detected in a population of clones from strain P108. These segregants were designated as P108c. Segregants P108c exhibited significantly decreased symbiotic effectiveness, nitrogenase activity, and the competitiveness with respect to alfalfa, compared to the original strain P108. It was established that a 80-kb deletion occurred in a larger of two cryptic plasmids (240 and 230 kb) of segregants P108c. It was concluded that genetic rearrangements are possible in rhizobial clones that did not undergo structural transformation and retained viability in the nodule during the natural vegetation period of alfalfa.