Sorghum is an important cereal in many
parts of the world, but water stress is a major constraint to its yield. In response to water stress, plants
can modify gene expression, leading to a variety of
changes in biochemical and physiological pathways.
In the present study, 32 accessions of sorghum were
screened for drought tolerance at the seedling stage
based on morphometric traits. After 14 days of water
stress, the most-tolerant (NGB01435) and susceptible (AKZ-NrSOR1013) accessions were assessed
for drought-related gene expression research. The
result of the morphometric attributes showed variation in seedling growth among the accessions. Also,
signifcant correlations exist among the ev... More
Sorghum is an important cereal in many
parts of the world, but water stress is a major constraint to its yield. In response to water stress, plants
can modify gene expression, leading to a variety of
changes in biochemical and physiological pathways.
In the present study, 32 accessions of sorghum were
screened for drought tolerance at the seedling stage
based on morphometric traits. After 14 days of water
stress, the most-tolerant (NGB01435) and susceptible (AKZ-NrSOR1013) accessions were assessed
for drought-related gene expression research. The
result of the morphometric attributes showed variation in seedling growth among the accessions. Also,
signifcant correlations exist among the evaluated
attributes, and the clustering pattern revealed genetic
diversity in the accessions. The analysis of Ct values
across the samples revealed diferential expression
of the reference gene (ELF4α) and the target genes
(SNAC1 and DREB1A). SNAC1 is a stress-responsive
NAC superfamily transcription factor, while DREB1A
is a dehydration-responsive element binding protein
1 (DREB1)/C-repeat-binding factor (CBF), both of
which are involved in stress regulation in plants. Both
target genes had lower expression under stress in the
tolerant accession (NGB01435) and were upregulated
in the susceptible accession (AKZ-NrSOR1013). This
study concluded that accessions respond diferentially
to water stress in terms of growth and development;
the downregulation of both SNAC1 and DREB1A is
critical to the mechanism involved in the water stress
modulation to confer resistance in sorghum seedlings
under water defcit conditions.
