Acta Botanica Croatica, Vol. 78 No. 2, 2019.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.2478/botcro-2019-0021
Variation in morpho-physiological, biochemical and molecular responses of two Eucalyptus species under short-term water stress
Sivanantham Amrutha
; Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, R. S. Puram, Coimbatore 641002, India
Abdul Bari Muneera Parveen
; Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, R. S. Puram, Coimbatore 641002, India
Muthusamy Muthupandi
; Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, R. S. Puram, Coimbatore 641002, India
Veerasamy Sivakumar
; Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, R. S. Puram, Coimbatore 641002, India
Raman Nautiyal
; Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, P. O. New Forest, Dehradun 248006, Uttarakhand, India
Modhumita Ghosh Dasgupta
; Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, R. S. Puram, Coimbatore 641002, India
Abstract
The genus Eucalyptus occurs in a wide range of environmental conditions, including rainforests, subalpine, arid/semi-arid and moist temperate zones. It includes species with the capacity to cope with extremely low water potential. This study aims to screen water stress tolerance in two Eucalyptus species under nursery conditions. Inter-specific variation in morphological, physiological, biochemical and molecular parameters in two Eucalyptus species (E. tereticornis and E. camaldulensis) with contrasting levels of tolerance to progressive short term water-deprived condition was evaluated. Water stress reduced growth measured in terms of root:shoot ratio and specific leaf area (SLA), photosynthetic parameters, leaf water potential and relative water content (RWC) in both genotypes. Biochemical parameters including total sugars, phenol, phytohormones (indole acetic acid and abscisic acid) and proline were found to significantly increase during stress in both genotypes. Water responsive transcripts like osmotin and DREB/CBF registered significant expression variation in the two genotypes, suggesting their key role in regulating water stress tolerance in Eucalyptus.
Keywords
drought stress; leaf temperature; osmotin; sugars; transcription factors
Hrčak ID:
225645
URI
Publication date:
1.10.2019.
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