Transcriptional Responses in Soybean Reproductive Tissues to Ozone Stress

Tropospheric ozone (O₃) is a secondary air pollutant and a greenhouse gas that can damage plant productivity in high concentrations. Soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) is a crop sensitive to O₃ and current ground-level O₃ concentrations are estimated to reduce global soybean yields significantly. To understand transcriptional mechanisms of yield loss in soybean, Elizabeth Ainsworth from the University of Illinois examined the transcriptome of soybean flower and pod tissues exposed to elevated O₃ concentrations.

Elevated O₃ caused strong transcriptional responses in flower and pod tissues, with increased expression of genes involved in signalling in both tissues. Flower tissues responded by increasing expression of genes encoding matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), which are involved in programmed cell death, senescence and stress response. On the other hand, pod tissues responded by increasing expression of xyloglucan endotransglucosylase/hydrolase genes, predicted to be involved with increased pod dehiscence.

This study established that gene expression in reproductive tissues of soybean are affected by elevated O₃ concentrations, and flowers and pods have distinct transcriptomic responses to it.

For more information on the study, read the full article here: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2229/14/335.