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Amino acid and protein metabolism are interrelated and both play important roles in plant adaptation to heat stress. The objective of this study was to identify amino acids and soluble proteins associated with genetic variation in heat tolerance of hard fescue (Festuca trachyphylla). According to a previous screening experiment, the hard fescue cultivars Reliant IV and Predator were selected as heat-tolerant and heat-sensitive cultivars, respectively. Plants of these two hard fescue cultivars were exposed to heat stress at 38/33 °C (day/night) or optimal temperature at 21/18 °C in growth chambers. Each cultivar had four replications under each temperature, and the experimental design was a split-plot design, temperature as the main plots and cultivars as the subplots. Under heat stress, ‘Reliant IV’ exhibited higher turf quality (TQ) and greater membrane stability than ‘Predator’. In response to heat stress, total amino acid content increased, whereas total soluble protein content decreased in both cultivars. The greater accumulation of amino acids in ‘Reliant IV’ was contributed by the greater increase of proteins involved in the glycolysis and the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle that provided carbon skeleton for amino acid synthesis. ‘Reliant IV’ leaves exhibited greater extent of increases in the content of six individual amino acids (histidine, glutamine, proline, threonine, aspartate, and tryptophan) than ‘Predator’ under heat stress. Several soluble proteins were upregulated in response to heat stress, to a greater extent in ‘Reliant IV’ than ‘Predator’, including the proteins involved in photosynthesis, protein folding, redox hemostasis, stress signaling, stress defense, cell organization, and metabolism. These differentially accumulated free amino acids and soluble proteins could be associated with the genetic variation in heat tolerance of hard fescue.
The spicas of Prunella vulgaris are widely used in the medical, beverage, and ornamental fields. Temperature and photoperiod are the two main ecological factors that determine the transformation of many plants from vegetative growth to reproductive growth. To explore the response of P. vulgaris flowering to temperature and photoperiod induction, we adopted vernalization long-day, vernalization short-day, nonvernalization long-day, and nonvernalization short-day treatments. The results showed that the morphology (total number of leaves, number of branches, number of leaves per branch, and branch length) of the vernalization treatment groups was significantly different from that of other nonvernalization groups, and the photosynthetic pigments, net photosynthetic rate, water use efficiency, stomatal conductance, intercellular CO2 concentration, and transpiration rate increased in the vernalization treatment group. However, the gibberellin 3 (GA3), indole-3-acetic acid and zeatin riboside (ZR) contents were significantly increased under the short-day treatments groups, and the results were the same for the expression of endogenous hormone synthesis genes, except for abscisic acid (ABA). The flowering-related genes soc1, elf3, svp, ga20ox, and cry1 were highly expressed under the vernalization short-day. Therefore, the induction of vernalization is more conducive to the increase in the photosynthetic rate. Temperature and photoperiod synergistically induced the synthesis and accumulation of starch, sugar, amino acids, and protein and affected the content of endogenous hormones and the expression of genes involved in their synthesis. GA3 and ZR had thresholds for their regulation of the flowering process in P. vulgaris, and high concentrations of ABA promoted flowering. Temperature and photoperiod coordinate the expression of the flowering-related genes soc1, elf3, svp, ga20ox, and cry1, thereby affecting the flowering process in P. vulgaris.
Summer decline is typically characterized by heat and drought stress and is a major concern for fine fescue species (Festuca). The objectives of this study were to examine whether heat or drought stress is more detrimental, and to determine the genotypic variations in heat and drought tolerance for fine fescues. A total of 26 cultivars, including seven hard fescues (Festuca trachyphylla), eight chewings fescues (Festuca rubra ssp. commutate), seven strong creeping red fescues (Festuca rubra ssp. rubra), two sheep fescues (Festuca ovina ssp. hirtula), and two slender creeping red fescues (Festuca rubra ssp. littoralis) were subjected to prolonged heat or drought stress in growth chambers. Several physiological parameters, including turf quality (TQ), electrolyte leakage (EL), photochemical efficiency (F v/F m) chlorophyll content (Chl), and relative water content (RWC) were measured in plants exposed to heat or drought stress. The results indicated that heat stress was more detrimental than drought stress for fine fescue species. Based on TQ and major physiological parameters (EL and F v/F m) under heat stress, several cultivars with good heat tolerance were selected, including ‘Blue Ray’, ‘Spartan II’, ‘MN-HD1’, ‘Shoreline’, ‘Navigator II’, ‘Azure’, ‘Beacon’, ‘Aurora Gold’, ‘Reliant IV’, ‘Marco Polo’, ‘Garnet’, ‘Wendy Jean’, ‘Razor’, and ‘Cindy Lou’. Based on TQ and major physiological parameters (EL, RWC, and F v/F m) under drought stress, several cultivars with good drought tolerance were selected, including ‘Spartan II’, ‘MN-HD1’, ‘Reliant IV’, ‘Garnet’, ‘Azure’, and ‘Aurora Gold’. These cultivars could be used in hot, dry, or both environments and as breeding germplasm for developing heat tolerance, drought tolerance, or both.