close
Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Aug 11:6:624.
doi: 10.3389/fpls.2015.00624. eCollection 2015.

Wheat genotypic variation in dynamic fluxes of WSC components in different stem segments under drought during grain filling

Jingjuan Zhang  1 , Wei Chen  2 , Bernard Dell  1 , Rudy Vergauwen  3 , Xinmin Zhang  1 , Jorge E Mayer  4 , Wim Van den Ende  3
Affiliations

Wheat genotypic variation in dynamic fluxes of WSC components in different stem segments under drought during grain filling

Jingjuan Zhang et al. Front Plant Sci. .

Abstract

In wheat, stem water soluble carbohydrates (WSC), composed mainly of fructans, are the major carbon sources for grain filling during periods of decreasing photosynthesis or under drought stress after anthesis. Here, in a field drought experiment, WSC levels and associated enzyme activities were followed in different stem segments (peduncle, penultimate internode, lower parts of stem, and sheath) during grain filling. The focus was on two double haploid (DH) lines, DH 307 and DH 338, derived from a Westonia/Kauz cross, two drought-tolerant wheat varieties that follow different drought adaptation strategies during grain filling. The results showed that in irrigated plants, in the period between 20 and 30 days after anthesis (DAA), 70-80% of WSC were fructans. Before and after this period, the fructan proportion varied from 10 to 60%, depending on the location along the stem. Under drought, the fructan proportion changed, depending on genotype, and developmental stages. After anthesis, stem fructans accumulation occurred mainly in the peduncle and penultimate internode until 14 DAA in both DH lines, with clear genotypic variation in subsequent fructan degradation under drought. In DH 307 a significant reduction of fructans with a concomitant increase in fructose levels occurred earlier in the lower parts of the stem and the sheath, as compared to DH 338 or other stem segments in both lines. This was associated with an earlier increase of grain weight and thousand grain weight in DH 307. Spatiotemporal analysis of fructan dynamics and enzymatic activities in fructan metabolism revealed that several types of FEHs are involved in fructan remobilization to the grain under drought.

Keywords: 6-kestose; fructan exohydrolase (FEH); fructan remobilization; grain weight (GW); stem segments; stem water soluble carbohydrates (WSC).

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Time-dependent grain weight and daily grain weight gains for DH 307 and DH 338 under irrigated and drought conditions in the field (DH 307: 6, 14, 20, 28, 34, and 44 DAA; DH 338: −2, 6, 12, 20, 26, and 36 DAA). The vertical bars represent SE. An asterisk (*) identifies significantly different values at P < 0.05.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Thousand grain weight (TGW) and daily increments of TGW in DH 307 and DH 338 under irrigated and drought conditions in the field (DH 307: 6, 14, 20, 28, 34, and 44 DAA; DH 338: −2, 6, 12, 20, 26, and 36 DAA). The vertical bars represent SE. An asterisk (*) identifies significantly different values at P < 0.05, and a pound sign (#) at P < 0.1.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Stem water soluble carbohydrate (WSC) levels in different stem segments of DH 307 and DH 338 under drought (open circles) and irrigated conditions (closed circles) in the field. An asterisk (*) is a comparison at 20 days after anthesis between the two DH lines. The vertical bars represent SE. Values with the same letter are statistically not different at P = 0.05. Arrows indicate start of drought treatment.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Fructan concentration in different segments in DH 307 and DH 338 under drought (open circles) and irrigated conditions (closed circles) in the field. The vertical bars represent SE. Values with the same letter are statistically not different at P = 0.05. Arrows indicate start of drought treatment.
Figure 5
Figure 5
6-Kestose concentration in different stem segments in DH 307 and DH 338 under drought (open circles) and irrigated conditions (closed circles) in the field. The vertical bars represent SE. Values with the same letter are statistically not different at P = 0.05. Arrows indicate start of drought treatment.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Fructose concentration in different stem segments in DH 307 and DH 338 under drought (open circles) and irrigated conditions (closed circles) in the field. The vertical bars represent SE. Values with the same letter are statistically not different at P = 0.05. Arrows indicate start of drought treatment.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Fructan proportion (% WSC) in different stem segments in DH 307 and DH 338 under drought (open circles) and irrigated conditions (closed circles) in the field. The vertical bars represent SE. Values with the same letter are statistically not different at P = 0.05. Arrows indicate start of drought treatment.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Bancal P., Gibeaut D. M., Carpita N. C. (1993). Analytical methods for the determination of fructan structure and biosynthesis, in Science and Technology of Fructans, eds Chatterton N. J., Suzuki M. (Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press; ), 83–118.
    1. Bidinger F., Musgrave R. B., Fischer R. A. (1977). Contribution of stored pre-anthesis assimilate to grain yield in wheat and barley. Nature 270, 431–433. 10.1038/270431a0 - DOI
    1. Blacklow W. M., Darbyshire B., Pheloung P. (1984). Fructans polymerised and depolymerised in the internodes of winter wheat as grain-filling progressed. Plant Sci. Lett. 36, 213–218. 10.1016/0304-4211(84)90171-8 - DOI
    1. Bonnett G. D., Simpson R. J. (1995). Fructan exohydrolase activities from lolium rigidum that hydrolyze β-2,1- and β-2,6-glycosidic linkages at different rates. New Phytol. 131, 199–209. 10.1111/j.1469-8137.1995.tb05721.x - DOI
    1. Butler J. D., Byrne P. F., Mohammadi V., Chapman P. L., Haley S. D. (2005). Agronomic performance of Rht alleles in a spring wheat population across a range of moisture levels. Crop Sci. 45, 939–947. 10.2135/cropsci2004.0323 - DOI

LinkOut - more resources