Transcriptomic study of couch grass rhizomes exposed to dehydration

This study explored the transcriptomic response of couch grass rhizome meristhematic region exposed to mild, medium and severe drought. The couch grass stress response was compared with the response of two contrasting barley cultivars and the specificities and commonalities in transcriptomic stress response of both species were identified. RNA was isolated from both non-treated couch grass rhizomes and rhizomes exposed to 2 h, 4.5 h and 8 h at 28°C, chosen to simulate an episode of, mild, medium and severe dehydration. RNA was extracted from three rhizome segments per treatment and each sample was represented by three independent replicates. The RNA samples were hybridized to an Affymetrix 22K Barley1 GeneChip Genome Array.