Genetic dissection of root architectural plasticity and identification of candidate loci in response to drought stress in bread wheat

Background The frequency of droughts has dramatically increased over the last 50 years, causing yield declines in cereals, including wheat. Crop varieties with efficient root systems show great potential for plant adaptation to drought stress, however; genetic control of root systems in wheat under field conditions is not yet well understood. Results Natural variation in root architecture plasticity (phenotypic alteration due to changing environments) was dissected under field-based control (well-irrigated) and drought (rain-out shelter) conditions by a genome-wide association study using 200 diverse wheat cultivars. Our results revealed root architecture and plasticity traits were differentially responded to drought stress. A total of 25 marker-trait associations (MTAs) underlying natural variations in root architectural plasticity were identified in response to drought stress. They were abundantly distributed on chromosomes 1 A, 1B, 2 A, 2B, 3 A, 3B, 4B, 5 A, 5D, 7 A and 7B of the wheat genome. Gene ontology annotation showed that many candidate genes associated with plasticity were involved in water-transport and water channel activity, cellular response to water deprivation, scavenging reactive oxygen species, root growth and development and hormone-activated signaling pathway-transmembrane transport, indicating their response to drought stress. Further, in silico transcript abundance analysis demonstrated that root plasticity-associated candidate genes were highly expressed in roots across different root growth stages and under drought treatments. Conclusion Our results suggest that root phenotypic plasticity is highly quantitative, and the corresponding loci are associated with drought stress that may provide novel ways to enable root trait breeding.