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Division zone activity determines the potential of drought-stressed maize leaves to resume growth after rehydration
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  • Hilde Nelissen,
  • Tom Van Hautegem,
  • Hironori Takasaki,
  • Christian Damian Lorenzo,
  • Kirin Demuynck,
  • Hannes Claeys,
  • Timothy Villers,
  • Heike Sprenger,
  • Kevin Debray,
  • Dries Schaumont,
  • Lennart Verbraeken,
  • Julie Pevernagie,
  • Julie Merchie,
  • Bernard Cannoot,
  • Stijn Aesaert,
  • Griet Coussens,
  • Kazuko Yamaguchi-Shinozaki,
  • Michael L. Nuccio,
  • Fred Van Ex,
  • Laurens Pauwels,
  • Thomas B. Jacobs,
  • Tom Ruttink,
  • Dirk Inzé
Hilde Nelissen
VIB

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Tom Van Hautegem
VIB
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Hironori Takasaki
VIB
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Christian Damian Lorenzo
VIB
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Kirin Demuynck
VIB
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Hannes Claeys
Inari Agriculture
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Timothy Villers
VIB
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Heike Sprenger
VIB
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Kevin Debray
VIB
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Dries Schaumont
Instituut voor Landbouw- Visserij- en Voedingsonderzoek
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Lennart Verbraeken
VIB
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Julie Pevernagie
VIB
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Julie Merchie
VIB
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Bernard Cannoot
VIB
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Stijn Aesaert
VIB
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Griet Coussens
VIB
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Kazuko Yamaguchi-Shinozaki
University of Tokyo
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Michael L. Nuccio
Inari Agriculture
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Fred Van Ex
Inari Agriculture
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Laurens Pauwels
VIB
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Thomas B. Jacobs
VIB
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Tom Ruttink
Ghent University
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Dirk Inzé
VIB
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Abstract

Drought is one of the most devastating causes of yield losses in crops like maize and the anticipated increases in severity and duration of drought spells due to climate change pose an imminent threat to agricultural productivity. To understand the drought response, phenotypic and molecular studies are typically performed at a given time point after drought onset, representing a steady-state adaptation response. Because growth is a dynamic process, we monitored the drought response with high temporal resolution and examined cellular and transcriptomic changes after rehydration at 4 and 6 days after leaf four appearance. These data showed that the division zone activity is a determinant for full organ growth recovery upon rehydration. Moreover, a prolonged maintenance of cell division by the ectopic expression of PLASTOCHRON1 extends the ability to resume growth after rehydration. The transcriptome analysis also indicated that GROWTH-REGULATING FACTORS (GRFs) affected leaf growth by impacting cell division duration, which was confirmed by a prolonged recovery potential of the GRF1-overexpression line after rehydration. Finally, we used a multiplex genome editing approach to evaluate the most promising differentially expressed genes from the transcriptome study and as such narrowed down the gene space from forty to seven genes for future functional characterization.
Submitted to Plant, Cell & Environment
18 Jul 2024Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
19 Aug 20241st Revision Received
20 Aug 2024Assigned to Editor
20 Aug 2024Submission Checks Completed
21 Aug 2024Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
27 Aug 2024Reviewer(s) Assigned
07 Oct 2024Editorial Decision: Accept