DRP003988
Study of hydrotropism-related gene expression in cucumber roots exposed to different gravitational conditions
Plants have developed unique strategies for stress mitigation or adaptation to their surroundings over the course of their evolution. One of these strategies is tropism; for an instance, plant roots grow downward via positive gravitropism in response to gravity and bend towards wetter areas via positive hydrotropism in response to moisture gradients as well.  In cucumber (Cucumis sativus) roots, gravitropism interferes with hydrotropism to the extent that hydrotropism is only minimally expressed under stationary conditions. Rotation of plants in a two-axis (3D) clinostat can remove gravity responses from plants, and hydrotropism is clearly expressed in clinorotated cucumber seedlings. To elucidate how gravitropic responses interfered with hydrotropism in cucumber roots, RNA-Seq was used to compare gene expression between hydrotropically bending cucumber roots under clinostat conditions and cucumber roots grown under stationary conditions while exposed to a moisture gradient.