The early culmination of maximum radial growth (RG) in late spring has been found in several coniferous species in a dry inner Alpine environment. We hypothesized that an early decrease in RG is an adaptation to cope with drought stress, which might require an early switch of carbon (C) allocation to belowground organs. To test this hypothesis, we experimentally subjected six-year-old Norway sp...

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a type of newly identified non-coding RNAs through high-throughput deep sequencing, which play important roles in miRNA function and transcriptional controlling in human, animals, and plants. To date, there is no report in wheat seedlings regarding the circRNAs identification and roles in the dehydration stress response. In present study, the total RNA was extracted...

Flowering time and water-use efficiency (WUE) are two ecological traits that are important for plant drought response. To understand the evolutionary significance of natural genetic variation in flowering time, WUE, and WUE plasticity to drought in Arabidopsis thaliana, we addressed the following questions: (1) How are ecophysiological traits genetically correlated within and between different ...

The capacity to induce crassulacean acid metabolism developmentally (constitutive CAM) and to up-regulate CAM expression in response to drought stress (facultative CAM) was studied in whole shoots of seven species by measuring net CO(2) gas exchange for up to 120 day-night cycles during early growth. In Clusia rosea, CAM was largely induced developmentally. Well-watered seedlings began their li...

Laboratory kinetic leach column (KLC) tests were carried out to define the conditions required to control acid generation from a highly reactive, potentially acid-forming (PAF) iron ore waste rock. It was found that lime addition (0.1 wt % blended) plus either blending of silicates (25 wt % K-feldspar and 25 wt % chlorite), or addition of a non-acid forming (NAF) top cover containing about 10% ...

Therefore, the objective of the current research was to investigate the effects of foliar B nutrition on seed protein, oil, fatty acids, and sugars under water stress conditions. A repeated greenhouse experiment was conducted using different maturity group (MG) cultivars. Plants were well-watered with no foliar B (W - B), well-watered with foliar B (W + B), water-stressed with no foliar B (WS -...

Drought is a major threat to maize growth and production. Understanding the molecular regulation network of drought tolerance in maize is of great importance. In this study, two maize inbred lines with contrasting drought tolerance were tested in the field under natural soil drought and well-watered conditions. In addition, the transcriptomes of their leaves was analyzed by RNA-Seq. In total, 5...

We functionally characterized the grape (Vitis vinifera) VvPIP2;4N (for Plasma membrane Intrinsic Protein) aquaporin gene. Expression of VvPIP2;4N in Xenopus laevis oocytes increased their swelling rate 54-fold. Northern blot and quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analyses showed that VvPIP2;4N is the most expressed PIP2 gene in root. In situ hybridization confirmed ro...