Drought reduces transmission of Turnip yellows virus , an insect-vectored circulative virus

Application of a severe water deficit to Arabidopsis thaliana plants infected with a mutant of Turnip yellows virus (TuYV, Family Luteoviridae) triggers a significant alteration of several plant phenology traits and strongly reduces the transmission efficiency of the virus by aphids. Although virus accumulation in water-stressed plants was similar to that in plants grown under well-watered conditions, virus accumulation was reduced in aphids fed on plant under water deficit. These results suggest alteration of the aphid feeding behavior on plants under water deficit

RD20, a stress-inducible caleosin, participates in stomatal control, transpiration and drought tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana

UMR BPMP; UMR LEPSEInternational audiencePlants overcome water deficit conditions by combining molecular, biochemical and morphological changes. At the molecular level, many stress-responsive genes have been isolated, but knowledge of their physiological functions remains fragmentary. Here, we report data for RD20, a stress-inducible Arabidopsis gene that belongs to the caleosin family. As for other caleosins, we showed that RD20 localized to oil bodies. Although caleosins are thought to play a role in the degradation of lipids during seed germination, induction of RD20 by dehydration, salt stress and ABA suggests that RD20 might be involved in processes other than germination. Using plants carrying the promoter RD20::uidA construct, we show that RD20 is expressed in leaves, guard cells and flowers, but not in root or in mature seeds. Water deficit triggers a transient increase in RD20 expression in leaves that appeared predominantly dependent on ABA signaling. To assess the biological significance of these data, a functional analysis using rd20 knock-out and overexpressing complemented lines cultivated either in standard or in water deficit conditions was performed. The rd20 knock-out plants present a higher transpiration rate that correlates with enhanced stomatal opening and a reduced tolerance to drought as compared with the wild type. These results support a role for RD20 in drought tolerance through stomatal control under water deficit conditions

Diversité biologique et fonctionnement des écosystèmes: interpréter et évaluer des expériences clés en prairie grâce à une modélisation mécaniste (DISCOVER)

National audienc

The global spectrum of plant form and function: enhanced species-level trait dataset.

Here we provide the 'Global Spectrum of Plant Form and Function Dataset', containing species mean values for six vascular plant traits. Together, these traits -plant height, stem specific density, leaf area, leaf mass per area, leaf nitrogen content per dry mass, and diaspore (seed or spore) mass - define the primary axes of variation in plant form and function. The dataset is based on ca. 1 million trait records received via the TRY database (representing ca. 2,500 original publications) and additional unpublished data. It provides 92,159 species mean values for the six traits, covering 46,047 species. The data are complemented by higher-level taxonomic classification and six categorical traits (woodiness, growth form, succulence, adaptation to terrestrial or aquatic habitats, nutrition type and leaf type). Data quality management is based on a probabilistic approach combined with comprehensive validation against expert knowledge and external information. Intense data acquisition and thorough quality control produced the largest and, to our knowledge, most accurate compilation of empirically observed vascular plant species mean traits to date