Plants respond to drought through molecular signals that coordinate developmental strategies both in the short and long term. Appropriate allocation of scarce resources is fundamental to plant success both in natural and agricultural populations. Plants may therefore maintain dormancy of resource-costly tissue to survive periods of water scarcity, and will prioritize water allocation to maximize reproductive success.
The plant hormone ABA is involved in the maintenance and release of tissue dormancy and is accumulated in some plant tissue during drought. It may therefore be an important signal for resource prioritisation and determining water allocation during stringent conditions. We seek to understand the impact of water availability on the maintenance of plant organ dormancy and the signals that underpin both this immediate response and long-term recovery and transition to organ development.
Understanding the physiological determinants of tissue-specific water availability and the molecular triggers of these rapid responses requires continuous observation of organ development/water status and time-course hormone and gene expression analysis.
We use high-resolution time-lapse dendrometry cameras to monitor stem, leaf and dormant bud tissue as pea plants respond to drought. Simultaneously, we measure ABA content and gene expression within each tissue type to build a dynamic map of the hormonal and genetic changes underpinning plant organ development and water allocation strategies under drought conditions.