Drought-induced molecular changes in crown of various barley phytohormone mutants
The aim of the study was the elucidation of drought-induced molecular events related to plant hormones occurring in crown tissue of barley, the key organ for cereal survival. Experiments involving large-scale measurements of gene expression at transcript and protein level, hormone abundance, and phenotypic variability in a set of selected barley mutants were carried out to uncover how disturbance of GAs, BRs and SLs homeostasis may affect the barley multivariate response to drought. The characterization included early stages of plant development and continued to the later stages, with observation of effects on the whole-plant architecture and yield formation. The integration of all data allowed to enrich the knowledge of regulatory networks in barley exposed to drought.