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

水分亏缺是自然界中植物的主要胁迫，但对根系用于适应这种环境条件的分子机制知之甚少，主要是由于在实验室中模拟这种条件的困难。GLO-Roots（Growth and Luminescence Observatory of Roots）提供了一个独特的机会来观察水分亏缺处理下土壤生长的拟南芥（Arabidopsis thaliana）植物根系结构的变化。初步数据表明，根避免干燥的土壤，通过增加重力响应，我们假设，这种避免机制是不同的种群之间的拟南芥加入来自不同的气候地区。将进行全基因组关联研究，以找到水分亏缺下根系构型潜在变化的遗传基础。此外，将具有极端表型的加入物进行杂交，并通过批量分离分析和/或数量性状基因座作图来鉴定致病基因座。最后，调查如果更深的根生长介导的压力诱导的激素信号，表征的时空动态的响应报告和反向遗传的方法将进行。总之，我们的目标是揭示分子调控机制的根系统结构的变化，响应水分亏缺拟南芥GLO-Roots系统。

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.