Drought stress in needles and roots of Norway spruce seedlings

RNA-Sequencing to assay transcriptomic changes induced under controlled gradual soil water depletion and after recovery in three-year old Norway spruce seedlings. Needles and roots of seedlings experiencing a mild drought stress at 60, 40 and 30 percent soil water content, a more extreme water stress after stomatal closure and after re-irrigation were compared to well-watered (80 percent soil water content) samples. We identified candidate genes involved in acclimation processes to slowly increasing water deficit in addition to genes necessary for sensing and signalling extreme drought stress conditions in Norway spruce.