Drought, metabolites, and Arabidopsis natural variation: a promising combination for understanding adaptation to water-limited environments.

摘要: Drought elicits substantial changes in plant metabolism and it remains a challenge to determine which of these represent adaptive responses them are merely neutral effects or even symptoms damage. Arabidopsis primarily uses low water potential/dehydration avoidance strategies respond limitation. The large variation evolved stress among accessions can be powerful tool identify ecologically important traits; however, collection relevant phenotype data under controlled is often limiting factor. Quantitative genetics has great potential find the genes underlying drought-affected metabolic traits, for example proline metabolism, as well overall adaptation.