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Plant and Cell Physiology Advance Access originally published online on January 4, 2008
Plant and Cell Physiology 2008 49(2):226-241; doi:10.1093/pcp/pcm180
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Japanese Society of Plant Physiologists. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Programmed Proteome Response for Drought Avoidance/Tolerance in the Root of a C3 Xerophyte (Wild Watermelon) Under Water Deficits

Kazuya Yoshimura1,2, Akiko Masuda1, Masayoshi Kuwano1, Akiho Yokota1 and Kinya Akashi1,*

1Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Graduate School of Biological Sciences, 8916-5 Takayama, Ikoma, Nara, 630-0101 Japan

*Corresponding author: E-mail, akashi{at}bs.naist.jp; Fax, +81-743-72-5569.


  Abstract

Water availability is a critical determinant for the growth and ecological distribution of terrestrial plants. Although some xerophytes are unique regarding their highly developed root architecture and the successful adaptation to arid environments, virtually nothing is known about the molecular mechanisms underlying this adaptation. Here, we report physiological and molecular responses of wild watermelon (Citrullus lanatus sp.), which exhibits extraordinarily high drought resistance. At the early stage of drought stress, root development of wild watermelon was significantly enhanced compared with that of the irrigated plants, indicating the activation of a drought avoidance mechanism for absorbing water from deep soil layers. Consistent with this observation, comparative proteome analysis revealed that many proteins induced in the early stage of drought stress are involved in root morphogenesis and carbon/nitrogen metabolism, which may contribute to the drought avoidance via the enhancement of root growth. On the other hand, lignin synthesis-related proteins and molecular chaperones, which may function in the enhancement of physical desiccation tolerance and maintenance of protein integrity, respectively, were induced mostly at the later stage of drought stress. Our findings suggest that this xerophyte switches survival strategies from drought avoidance to drought tolerance during the progression of drought stress, by regulating its root proteome in a temporally programmed manner. This study provides new insights into the complex molecular networks within plant roots involved in the adaptation to adverse environments.

Keywords: Drought — Proteome — Root — Wild watermelon — Xerophyte

Abbreviations: D, spot whose intensity is decreased by the stress; 2-DE, 2-dimensional electrophoresis; DTT, dithiothreitol; EST, expressed sequence tag; GS1, glutamine synthetase 1; Hsp, heat shock protein; IE, spot whose intensity is increased at the early stage of the stress; IEF, isoelectric focusing; IL, spot whose intensity is increased at the later stage of the stress; LC–MS/MS, liquid chromatorgraphy–tandem mass spectrometry.

2Present address: Department of Food and Nutritional Science, College of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Chubu University, 1200 Matsumoto-cho, Kasugai, Aichi, 487-8501 Japan.

(Received October 15, 2007; Accepted December 20, 2007)
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