Abstract:
Vicia sativa L.
, an annual winter growing leguminous plant, is a v
aluable source of
protein and
minerals for cattle. Drought is one of the key stre
ss factors that influence
plant growth and development. In order to investiga
te common vetch physiological and
molecular responses under Normal irrigation (N) and
two levels of drought stress [S
1
=
30%
and S
2
= 10%
Field Capacity (FC)], a greenhouse experiment was
carried out on two
genotypes, namely, Mahalimaraghe and 41,
and some physiological traits [e.g. Relative
Water Content (RWC), Electro Leakage (EL), total pro
tein, chlorophyll (a, b), and
carotenoid content] were measured and expression pa
tterns of three genes (sod, aq1 and
bzip) were evaluated by real-time quantitative RT-P
CR analysis. Results showed that
expression pattern of all three genes and physiolog
ical responses had significantly
changed in response to the stress
.
The highest increase in the expression of each of
the
three genes was observed in Mahalimaraghe
genotype in S
1
condition compared to N. In
contrast, under S
2
condition compared to N, the highest increase in e
xpression of the three
genes was observed in genotype 41. In comparison of
S
2
with S
1
, the highest changes in
expression of all the three genes was observed in M
ahalimaraghe genotype. All together
,
the obtained results may facilitate the understandi
ng of molecular mechanism of
V. sativa
in response to drought stress, and also provide the
basis of effective genetic engineering
strategies for improving stress tolerance of
V. sativa
.
Keywords:
Dought tolerance, Expression pattern,
Gene Expression, Molecular response,
Osmotic Adjustment.
