TITLE:
Adaptation of Arabidopsis Plants to Tropical Aeroponics Using Cool Root Zone Temperatures
AUTHORS:
Sandhya Srikanth, Tsui Wei Choong, Jiashu Chu, Jie He, Zhong Chen
KEYWORDS:
Aeroponics, Arabidopsis, Biomass, Seeds, Root Zone Temperature, Tropical
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.8 No.13,
December
5,
2017
ABSTRACT: Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heyhn. is a well known
model plant in plant research. However, its growth conditions and diminutive
stature associated with low biomass at maturity make it a challenging species
for physiological studies. While in the tropical countries, it can only be
grown either by tissue cultures or in growth chambers under controlled
conditions. An aeroponic technique with 20°C ± 2°C and 30°C
± 2°C root-zone temperatures (RZT) was used to grow Arabidopsis (Columbia ecotype) in a
tropical greenhouse with natural irradiance and high ambient temperature (38°C/28°C
day/night). Seedlings germinated in growth chambers at 20°C or 30°C.
At 6 to 8 leaf stage, they were transferred to the aeroponic troughs with their
roots exposed to constant temperature of 20°C ± 2°C and 30°C
± 2°C while their aerial parts were subjected to fluctuating ambient
temperature from 28°C to 38°C. After a week, plants have
acclimatised to both RZTs and started developing normal rosettes, bolted and
yielded viable seeds. However, 20°C ± 2°C RZT allowed them to
recover from turgor pressure despite of wilting, and significantly increased
biomass. Mature plants grown in each RZTs were compared morphologically and
physiologically to the plants grown in growth chamber (GC) at 20°C
(root and shoot) temperature with 60% relative humidity. Aeroponically grown
plants did not experience photoinhibition, and also exhibited higher photosynthetic light usage efficiency and higher capacities of heat
dissipation, compared to GC plants. This
aeroponics with cool RZTs can allow the use of Arabidopsis as a model plant even under tropical climate.