| Summary: | Drought limits wheat production in the Brazilian Cerrado biome. In order to search
for candidate genes associated to the response to water deficit, we analyzed the gene
expression profiles, under severe drought stress, in roots and leaves of the cultivar
MGS1 Aliança, a well-adapted cultivar to the Cerrado. A set of 4,422 candidate genes
was found in roots and leaves. The number of down-regulated transcripts in roots was
higher than the up-regulated transcripts, while the opposite occurred in leaves. The
number of common transcripts between the two tissues was 1,249, while 2,124 were
specific to roots and 1,049 specific to leaves. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis revealed
a 0.78 correlation with the expression data. The candidate genes were distributed
across all chromosomes and component genomes, but a greater number was mapped on the
B genome, particularly on chromosomes 3B, 5B and 2B. When considering both tissues,
116 different pathways were induced. One common pathway, among the top three
activated pathways in both tissues, was starch and sucrose metabolism. These results
pave the way for future marker development and selection of important genes and are
useful for understanding the metabolic pathways involved in wheat drought
response.
|
|---|