Morphophysiological responses and gene regulation of two bermudagrass cultivars differing in response to drought stress
Abstract Bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon) is a widely used warm-season turfgrass worldwide. However, bermudagrass often faces the challenges from drought stress in practical application. Selection and breeding of drought-tolerant cultivars of bermudagrass is crucial for thriving in arid environments....
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SpringerOpen
2025-04-01
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| Series: | Chemical and Biological Technologies in Agriculture |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40538-025-00773-3 |
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| author | Jia Jiang Along Chen Jiayi Qi Xiashun Liu Qianhan Zhao Chen Wang Tiantian He Xueling Zheng Wenjing Deng Jingbo Chen Dandan Li Fuchun Xie Yajun Chen |
| author_facet | Jia Jiang Along Chen Jiayi Qi Xiashun Liu Qianhan Zhao Chen Wang Tiantian He Xueling Zheng Wenjing Deng Jingbo Chen Dandan Li Fuchun Xie Yajun Chen |
| author_sort | Jia Jiang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon) is a widely used warm-season turfgrass worldwide. However, bermudagrass often faces the challenges from drought stress in practical application. Selection and breeding of drought-tolerant cultivars of bermudagrass is crucial for thriving in arid environments. In this study, we employed two different drought-tolerant bermudagrass cultivars ‘Yangjiang’ and ‘Guanzhong’ to assess the morphology, physiology and transcriptome under various drought stress conditions. The outcomes unveiled that drought-tolerant ‘Guanzhong’ exhibited superiority in morphology, light utilization efficiency, relative water content, antioxidant and osmotic regulation capabilities compared to drought-susceptible ‘Yangjiang’. In addition, transcriptome sequencing showed that photosynthesis, amino acid metabolism, peroxisome and plant hormone signal transduction pathways were the key metabolic pathways of bermudagrass in response to drought stress. Compared to the drought-sensitive cultivar ‘Yangjiang’, the drought-tolerant ‘Guanzhong’ exhibited lower expression of AUX/IAA genes (negative regulators of auxin signaling), which reduces their inhibitory effect on auxin response factors (ARF), thereby enhancing auxin signaling efficiency to coordinate adaptive growth. Additionally, compared with ‘Yangjiang’, the down-regulated protein phosphatases (PP2C) in ‘Guanzhong’ weaken their suppression of SnRK2, resulting in heightened ABA signaling sensitivity. In comparison to ‘Yangjiang’, ‘Guanzhong’ displayed a higher IAA concentration and a lower ABA concentration under stress conditions, thus ensuring a more efficient utilization of water by minimizing stomatal aperture and reducing water evaporation. The results suggested that regulation of morphology, physiological metabolism and genes expression could contribute to drought tolerance in bermudagrass. Graphical Abstract |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-4860789de2584763afddbf08555dba70 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2196-5641 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | SpringerOpen |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Chemical and Biological Technologies in Agriculture |
| spelling | doaj-art-4860789de2584763afddbf08555dba702025-08-20T03:52:24ZengSpringerOpenChemical and Biological Technologies in Agriculture2196-56412025-04-0112111510.1186/s40538-025-00773-3Morphophysiological responses and gene regulation of two bermudagrass cultivars differing in response to drought stressJia Jiang0Along Chen1Jiayi Qi2Xiashun Liu3Qianhan Zhao4Chen Wang5Tiantian He6Xueling Zheng7Wenjing Deng8Jingbo Chen9Dandan Li10Fuchun Xie11Yajun Chen12College of Animal Science and Technology, Northeast Agricultural UniversityCollege of Horticulture, Northeast Agricultural UniversityCollege of Horticulture, Northeast Agricultural UniversityCollege of Animal Science and Technology, Northeast Agricultural UniversityCollege of Animal Science and Technology, Northeast Agricultural UniversityCollege of Animal Science and Technology, Northeast Agricultural UniversityCollege of Horticulture, Northeast Agricultural UniversityCollege of Horticulture, Northeast Agricultural UniversityCollege of Horticulture, Northeast Agricultural UniversityInstitute of Botany, Jiangsu Province and Chinese Academy of Sciences (Nanjing Botanical Garden Mem. Sun Yat-Sen)Institute of Botany, Jiangsu Province and Chinese Academy of Sciences (Nanjing Botanical Garden Mem. Sun Yat-Sen)College of Animal Science and Technology, Northeast Agricultural UniversityCollege of Animal Science and Technology, Northeast Agricultural UniversityAbstract Bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon) is a widely used warm-season turfgrass worldwide. However, bermudagrass often faces the challenges from drought stress in practical application. Selection and breeding of drought-tolerant cultivars of bermudagrass is crucial for thriving in arid environments. In this study, we employed two different drought-tolerant bermudagrass cultivars ‘Yangjiang’ and ‘Guanzhong’ to assess the morphology, physiology and transcriptome under various drought stress conditions. The outcomes unveiled that drought-tolerant ‘Guanzhong’ exhibited superiority in morphology, light utilization efficiency, relative water content, antioxidant and osmotic regulation capabilities compared to drought-susceptible ‘Yangjiang’. In addition, transcriptome sequencing showed that photosynthesis, amino acid metabolism, peroxisome and plant hormone signal transduction pathways were the key metabolic pathways of bermudagrass in response to drought stress. Compared to the drought-sensitive cultivar ‘Yangjiang’, the drought-tolerant ‘Guanzhong’ exhibited lower expression of AUX/IAA genes (negative regulators of auxin signaling), which reduces their inhibitory effect on auxin response factors (ARF), thereby enhancing auxin signaling efficiency to coordinate adaptive growth. Additionally, compared with ‘Yangjiang’, the down-regulated protein phosphatases (PP2C) in ‘Guanzhong’ weaken their suppression of SnRK2, resulting in heightened ABA signaling sensitivity. In comparison to ‘Yangjiang’, ‘Guanzhong’ displayed a higher IAA concentration and a lower ABA concentration under stress conditions, thus ensuring a more efficient utilization of water by minimizing stomatal aperture and reducing water evaporation. The results suggested that regulation of morphology, physiological metabolism and genes expression could contribute to drought tolerance in bermudagrass. Graphical Abstracthttps://doi.org/10.1186/s40538-025-00773-3BermudagrassDrought stressPhysiological metabolismTranscriptomePlant hormone |
| spellingShingle | Jia Jiang Along Chen Jiayi Qi Xiashun Liu Qianhan Zhao Chen Wang Tiantian He Xueling Zheng Wenjing Deng Jingbo Chen Dandan Li Fuchun Xie Yajun Chen Morphophysiological responses and gene regulation of two bermudagrass cultivars differing in response to drought stress Chemical and Biological Technologies in Agriculture Bermudagrass Drought stress Physiological metabolism Transcriptome Plant hormone |
| title | Morphophysiological responses and gene regulation of two bermudagrass cultivars differing in response to drought stress |
| title_full | Morphophysiological responses and gene regulation of two bermudagrass cultivars differing in response to drought stress |
| title_fullStr | Morphophysiological responses and gene regulation of two bermudagrass cultivars differing in response to drought stress |
| title_full_unstemmed | Morphophysiological responses and gene regulation of two bermudagrass cultivars differing in response to drought stress |
| title_short | Morphophysiological responses and gene regulation of two bermudagrass cultivars differing in response to drought stress |
| title_sort | morphophysiological responses and gene regulation of two bermudagrass cultivars differing in response to drought stress |
| topic | Bermudagrass Drought stress Physiological metabolism Transcriptome Plant hormone |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40538-025-00773-3 |
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