Meeting Abstract
BACKGROUND/QUESTION/METHODS Abiotic sources of stress, including drought, cold, and salinity, can substantially affect plant fitness and survival. This poses a significant threat to conservation, economic activities, and agriculture as climate change increases the stochasticity of temperature, precipitation, and availability of fresh water. Stress tolerance can vary widely between species and across differently adapted populations within a species. Environmental stress can decrease photosynthesis, diminish vegetative growth, and reduce reproductive allocation, each of which has serious consequences for agricultural and bio-energy crops. This research examines physiological and transcriptomic responses to abiotic stress across populations in the wild foxtail millet, Setaria viridis, a close relative of the agriculturally important foxtail millet, Setaria italica. We assessed differences in response to cold, drought, and salinity stress between two populations of S. viridis (one from China and one from Chile) in controlled greenhouse and cold room environments. RESULTS/CONCLUSIONS Physiological responses to drought stress, measured by photosynthetic rate, differed significantly between populations. Preliminary results indicate that plant response to cold stress at -5 degrees Celsius did not differ based on prior cold acclimation or population. We are awaiting sequencing data which will allow us to compare transcriptomic and phenotypic responses by quantifying up and down regulation of genes across treatment and population. Gene ontology analyses will be used to determine the function of genes that are significantly up or down regulated between groups. Ultimately, this research will help elucidate effects of population adaptation on abiotic stress response in a close relative of an important agricultural crop.
