Unraveling the transcriptional basis of temperature-dependent pinoxaden resistance in brachypodium hybridum

Maor Matzrafi, Lidor Shaar-Moshe, Baruch Rubin, Zvi Peleg*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

Climate change endangers food security and our ability to feed the ever-increasing human population. Weeds are the most important biotic stress, reducing crop-plant productivity worldwide. Chemical control, the main approach for weed management, can be strongly affected by temperature. Previously, we have shown that temperature-dependent non-target site (NTS) resistance of Brachypodium hybridum is due to enhanced detoxification of acetyl-CoA carboxylase inhibitors. Here, we explored the transcriptional basis of this phenomenon. Plants were characterized for the transcriptional response to herbicide application, high-temperature and their combination, in an attempt to uncover the genetic basis of temperature-dependent pinoxaden resistance. Even though most of the variance among treatments was due to pinoxaden application (61%), plants were able to survive pinoxaden application only when grown under high-temperatures. Biological pathways and expression patterns of members of specific gene families, previously shown to be involved in NTS metabolic resistance to different herbicides, were examined. Cytochrome P450, glucosyl transferase and glutathione-S-transferase genes were found to be up-regulated in response to pinoxaden application under both control and high-temperature conditions. However, biological pathways related to oxidation and glucose conjugation were found to be significantly enriched only under the combination of pinoxaden application and high-temperature. Analysis of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was conducted at several time points after treatment using a probe detecting H2O2/peroxides. Comparison of ROS accumulation among treatments revealed a significant reduction in ROS quantities 24 h after pinoxaden application only under high-temperature conditions. These results may indicate significant activity of enzymatic ROS scavengers that can be correlated with the activation of herbicide-resistance mechanisms. This study shows that up-regulation of genes related to metabolic resistance is not sufficient to explain temperature-dependent pinoxaden resistance. We suggest that elevated activity of enzymatic processes at high-temperature may induce rapid and efficient pinoxaden metabolism leading to temperature-dependent herbicide resistance.

Original languageAmerican English
Article number1064
JournalFrontiers in Plant Science
Volume8
DOIs
StatePublished - 21 Jun 2017

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This study was supported by the Chief Scientist of the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture. The authors would like to thank Drs. R. Hayuka and M. Sibony for their assistance with the experiments and data analysis. MM is indebted to the Teomim doctoral fellowships awards. LS-M is indebted to The Israeli President’s Scholarship for Scientific Excellence and Innovation.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Matzrafi, Shaar-Moshe, Rubin and Peleg.

Keywords

  • ACCase inhibitors
  • CYP450
  • Climate change
  • Glutathione-S-transferase
  • Metabolic resistance
  • RNA-seq
  • Reactive oxygen species
  • Temperature-dependent response

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