Uncovering the genetic basis for variation in adaptive responses to water deficit in Arabidopsis thaliana roots

水分亏缺是自然界植物面临的主要胁迫，但由于在实验室中难以模拟这种环境条件，人们对根系适应这种环境条件的分子机制知之甚少。GLO-Roots（根的生长和发光观测站）提供了独特的机会来观察土壤种植的拟南芥植物在缺水处理下根系结构的变化。初步数据表明，根系通过增加重力响应来避免土壤干燥，我们假设这种避免机制在不同气候地区的拟南芥种群中是不同的。研究人员将开展全基因组关联研究，以发现缺水条件下根系结构潜在变化的遗传基础。此外，具有极端表型的材料将进行交叉，并通过群体分离分析和/或定量性状位点定位确定致病位点。最后，为了研究更深的根系生长是否由应激诱导的激素信号介导，将对激素应答报告的时空动态特征和反向遗传方法进行表征。综上所述，本研究旨在利用GLO-Roots系统揭示拟南芥水分亏缺时根系结构变化的分子调控机制。

Water deficit is a major stress for plants in nature, but relatively little is known about the molecular mechanisms roots use to adapt to this environmental condition, mainly due to the difficulty of simulating such conditions in the laboratory. GLO-Roots (Growth and Luminescence Observatory of Roots) offers the unique opportunity to visualize changes in root system architecture in soil-grown Arabidopsis thaliana plants under water deficit treatment. Preliminary data show that roots avoid drying soil by increasing gravity response and we hypothesize that this avoidance mechanism is diverse among a population of Arabidopsis thaliana accessions from different climatic areas. A genome wide association study will be performed to find the genetic basis of potential changes in root system architecture under water deficit. In addition, accessions with extreme phenotypes will be crossed and causative loci identified by bulk-segregant analysis and/or Quantitative Trait Loci-mapping. Lastly, to investigate if deeper root growth is mediated by stress-induced hormone signaling, characterization of the spatiotemporal dynamics of hormone-responive reporters and reverse genetic approaches will be conducted. In conclusion, we aim at revealing molecular mechanisms regulating changes in root system architecture in response to water deficit in Arabidopsis thaliana using the GLO-Roots system.