Biology subjects

Oduor, R.

Publications and source records attributed to Oduor, R..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2019

Differential characterization of physiological and biochemical responses during drought stress in finger millet varieties

Drought is the most perilous abiotic stress that affects finger millet growth and productivity worldwide. For the successful production of finger millet, selection of drought tolerant varieties is necessary and critical stages under drought stress, germination and early seedling growth, ought to be fully understood. This study investigated the physiological and biochemical responses of six finger millet varieties (GBK043137, GBK043128, GBK043124, GBK043122, GBK043094 and GBK043050) under mannitol-induced drought stress. Seeds were germinated on sterile soil and irrigated with various concentrations of mannitol (200, 400 and 600 mM) for two weeks. Comparative analysis in terms of relative water content (RWC), chlorophyll, proline, and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents were measured the physiological and biochemical characteristics of drought stress. The results showed that increased level of drought stress seriously decreased germination and early seedling growth of finger millet varieties. However, root growth was increased. In addition, exposition to drought stress triggered a significant decrease in relative water content and chlorophyll content reduction the biochemical parameters assay showed less reduction of relative water content. Furthermore, oxidative damage indicating parameters such as proline concentration and MDA content increased. Varieties GBK043137 and GBK043094 were less affected by drought as shown by significant change in the physiological parameters. Our findings reveal the difference and linkage between the physiological responses of finger millet to drought and are vital for breeding and selection of drought tolerant varieties of finger millet. Further investigations on genomic and molecular to deeply insight the detail mechanisms of drought tolerance in finger millet need to explored.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2019

Induced expression of Xerophyta viscosa XvSap1 gene greatly impacts tolerance to drought stress in transgenic sweetpotato

Key message Drought stress in sweetpotato could be overcome by introducing XvSap1 gene from Xerophyta viscosa.\n\nDrought stress often leads to reduced yields and is perilous delimiter for expanded cultivation and increased productivity of sweetpotato. Cell wall stabilization proteins have been identified to play a pivotal role in mechanical stabilization during desiccation stress mitigation. They are involved in myriad cellular processes that modify the cell wall properties to tolerate the mechanical stress during dehydration in plants. This provides a possible approach to engineer crops for enhanced stable yields under adverse climatic conditions. In this study, we introduced the XvSap1 gene isolated from Xerophyta viscosa, a resurrection plant into sweetpotato by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Detection of the transgene by PCR coupled with Southern blot revealed the integration of XvSap1 in the three independent events. Sweetpotato plants expressing the XvSap1 gene exhibited superior growth performance such as shoot length, number of leaves and yield than the wild type plants under drought stress. Quantitative real time-PCR results confirmed higher expression of the XvSap1 gene in XSP1 transgenic plants imposed with drought stress. In addition, the transgenic plants had increased levels of chlorophyll, free proline and relative water content but malonaldehyde content was decreased under drought stress compared to wild type plants. Conjointly, our findings show that XvSap1 can enhance drought resilience without causing deleterious phenotypic and yield changes, thus providing a promising candidate target for improving the drought tolerance of sweetpotato cultivars through genetic engineering. The transgenic drought tolerant sweetpotato line provides a valuable resource as drought tolerant crop on arid lands of the world.

molecular biology↗