Gene expression analysis in a Brazilian wheat cultivar under drought. Triticum aestivum

The central part of Brazil, consisting mostly of the Cerrado Biome, is considered to be the new frontier for increasing Brazilian wheat production. However, rainfed wheat production in that area must cope with drought stress. In order to better understand the drought response, we analyzed the mRNA profiling under drought in roots and leaves of the cultivar MGS1 Aliança (a well-adapted cultivar to the Cerrado). We identified 4,422 candidate genes in roots and leaves. Overall design: Seeds of wheat cultivar MGS1 Aliança were grown in pots in a glasshouse. Control plants were watered and grown for 5 weeks while, in the drought treatment, plants were watered for 2 weeks following 3 weeks of water deprivation. RNA extraction of pooled leaves or root tissues was carried out and four cDNA libraries (root control, root stressed, leaf control, and leaf stressed) were sequenced using Roche 454 FLX.