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The effect of multiple abiotic stresses (drought and heat shock) on plants

A combination of drought stress and heat shock is encountered by many field-grown plants and crops in the US and abroad. This combination can have a severe detrimental effect on plants resulting in reduced growth and productivity, or death. Although drought stress and heat shock have been extensively studied, little is known about how their combination impact plants. Preliminary results from Arabidopsis and tobacco suggest that the physiological and molecular response of plants to a combination of drought stress and heat shock is distinct from that of plants subjected to each of these stresses applied individually. We hypothesize that the response of plants to a combination of drought stress and heat shock is controlled by a set of regulatory genes specifically induced or activated during a combination of drought stress and heat shock. Furthermore, we hypothesize that some of these genes can be used to enhance the resistance of plants and crops to a combination of drought stress and heat shock. Using array technology and RNA blots we are performing a comprehensive analysis of gene expression in Arabidopsis and tobacco plants subjected to a combination of drought stress and heat shock. We are identifying different regulatory genes specifically involved in the response of plants to this stress combination, and test their function with knockout plants and overexpressors.

Rizhsky, L., Hongjian, L. and Mittler, R. (2002) The combined effect of drought stress and heat shock on gene expression in tobacco. Plant Physiol. 130, 1143-1151.

Rizhsky L., Liang H., Shuman J., Shulaev V., Davletova S. and Mittler R. (2003) When defense pathways collide: The response of Arabidopsis to a combination of drought and heat stress. Plant Physiol.134, 1683-1696.

Suzuki N, Rizhsky L, Liang H, Shuman J, Shulaev V, Mittler R (2005) Enhanced tolerance to environmental stresses in transgenic plants expressing the transcriptional co-activator MBF1. Plant Physiol. 139, 1313-1322.

Mittler. R (2006) Abiotic Stress, the Field Environment and Stress Combination. Trends Plant Sci. 11, 15-19