Comparative Transcriptomics Reveal Metabolic Rather than Genetic Control of Divergent Antioxidant Metabolism in the Primary Root Elongation Zone of Water-Stressed Cotton and Maize

Abstract

Under water stress, the primary root elongation zones of cotton and maize exhibit both conserved and divergent metabolic responses, including variations in sulfur and antioxidant metabolism. To explore the relative importance of metabolic and genetic controls of these responses for each species, and the extent to which responses are mediated by similar gene expression networks within the framework of ortholog groups, comparative transcriptomics analyses were conducted under conditions of equivalent tissue water stress. Ortholog analysis revealed that 86% of the transcriptome response to water stress was phylogenetically unrelated between cotton and maize. Elevated transcript abundances for genes involved in abscisic acid (ABA) biosynthesis and signaling, as well as key enzymes that enable osmotic adjustment, were conserved between the species. In contrast, antioxidant responses, at least with regard to glutathione metabolism and anti-oxidative enzymes, did not exhibit such a transcript abundance adaptive signature. In particular, previously characterized differential responses of the glutathione and sulfur metabolic pathways between cotton and maize were not evident in the transcriptomic responses. The findings indicate that the antioxidant response in both species results from a metabolic acclimation to water stress, and thus represents an example of water stress-related metabolic plasticity.