Publications

@article{nokey,

title = {Drought tolerance memory transmission by citrus buds},

author = {Andressa Rodrigues Oliveira Sousa and Rogério Ferreira Ribas and Mauricio Antônio Coelho Filho and Luciano Freschi and Claudia Fortes Ferreira and Walter Santos Soares Filho and Junior Pastor Pérez-Molina and Abelmon Silva Gesteira},

doi = {10.1016/J.PLANTSCI.2022.111292},

issn = {0168-9452},

year  = {2022},

date = {2022-01-01},

journal = {Plant Science},

volume = {320},

pages = {111292},

publisher = {Elsevier},

abstract = {Plants face recurrent drought events, and previous stresses can influence their responses to subsequent stress episodes. Studies on drought stress memory are recent in citriculture, although they show promise as a tool for crop improvement. Here, we investigated whether stress memory mechanisms can be detected in citrus plants grafted with buds from plants subjected to recurrent water deficit. Three rootstock varieties, namely ‘Rangpur Santa Cruz’ lime, ‘Sunki Maravilha’ mandarin and ‘Sunki Tropical’ mandarin, in combination with ‘Valencia’ orange, were either maintained under full irrigation or subjected to one, two, or three water deficit cycles. Buds from ‘Valencia’ orange were grafted onto ‘Swingle’ citrumelo rootstocks and were evaluated. This combination displayed improved physiological and biochemical performance under water limitation, especially ‘Valencia’ buds grafted onto ‘Sunki Maravilha’, with better photosynthetic performance under water deficit. These findings indicate that genotype-dependent epigenetic memory is a key factor in restoring citrus plants’ capacity to rely on previous stress experiences to restore better photosynthetic and physiological responses when undergoing new water deficit events. Therefore, epigenetic marks can be stored and transmitted to new citrus plants and are a promising alternative to enable increased water deficit tolerance when plants are then challenged by drought-prone environments.},

keywords = {Abiotic stress, Citrus, Epigenetics, Photosynthetic performance, water deficit},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{nokey,

title = {Drought tolerance memory transmission by citrus buds},

author = {Andressa Rodrigues Oliveira Sousa and Rogério Ferreira Ribas and Mauricio Antônio Coelho Filho and Luciano Freschi and Claudia Fortes Ferreira and Walter Santos Soares Filho and Junior Pastor Pérez-Molina and Abelmon Silva Gesteira},

doi = {10.1016/J.PLANTSCI.2022.111292},

issn = {0168-9452},

year  = {2022},

date = {2022-01-01},

journal = {Plant Science},

volume = {320},

pages = {111292},

publisher = {Elsevier},

abstract = {Plants face recurrent drought events, and previous stresses can influence their responses to subsequent stress episodes. Studies on drought stress memory are recent in citriculture, although they show promise as a tool for crop improvement. Here, we investigated whether stress memory mechanisms can be detected in citrus plants grafted with buds from plants subjected to recurrent water deficit. Three rootstock varieties, namely ‘Rangpur Santa Cruz’ lime, ‘Sunki Maravilha’ mandarin and ‘Sunki Tropical’ mandarin, in combination with ‘Valencia’ orange, were either maintained under full irrigation or subjected to one, two, or three water deficit cycles. Buds from ‘Valencia’ orange were grafted onto ‘Swingle’ citrumelo rootstocks and were evaluated. This combination displayed improved physiological and biochemical performance under water limitation, especially ‘Valencia’ buds grafted onto ‘Sunki Maravilha’, with better photosynthetic performance under water deficit. These findings indicate that genotype-dependent epigenetic memory is a key factor in restoring citrus plants’ capacity to rely on previous stress experiences to restore better photosynthetic and physiological responses when undergoing new water deficit events. Therefore, epigenetic marks can be stored and transmitted to new citrus plants and are a promising alternative to enable increased water deficit tolerance when plants are then challenged by drought-prone environments.},

keywords = {Abiotic stress, Citrus, Epigenetics, Photosynthetic performance, water deficit},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{Amorim2021,

title = {Partial rootzone drying and regulated deficit irrigation can be used as water-saving strategies without compromising fruit yield and quality in tropically grown sweet orange},

author = {Maurício Silva Amorim and Iumi Silva Toyosumi and Wilson Amorim Lopes and Luciana Rodrigues Camillo and Laiane Nascimento Ferreira and Dilson Souza Rocha Junior and Walter Santos Soares Filho and Abelmon Silva Gesteira and Marcio Gilberto Cardoso Costa and Maurício Antônio Coelho Filho},

url = {https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14620316.2021.1900750},

doi = {10.1080/14620316.2021.1900750},

issn = {14620316},

year  = {2021},

date = {2021-01-01},

journal = {https://doi.org/10.1080/14620316.2021.1900750},

volume = {96},

issue = {5},

pages = {663-672},

publisher = {Taylor & Francis},

abstract = {We examined the effects of partial rootzone drying (PRD) and regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) on some physiological and agronomical traits in tropically grown sweet orange (Citrus sinensis (L.) O...},

keywords = {Citrus, Fruit quality, Gene expression, irrigation, water deficit, Yield},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{Santos2020,

title = {Citrus scion and rootstock combinations show changes in DNA methylation profiles and ABA insensitivity under recurrent drought conditions},

author = {Ariana S. Santos and Diana M. Neves and Dayse Drielly S. Santana-Vieira and Lucas Aragão H. Almeida and Márcio Gilberto C. Costa and Walter S. Soares Filho and Carlos P. Pirovani and Mauricio Antônio Coelho Filho and Cláudia F. Ferreira and Abelmon S. Gesteira},

doi = {10.1016/J.SCIENTA.2020.109313},

issn = {0304-4238},

year  = {2020},

date = {2020-01-01},

journal = {Scientia Horticulturae},

volume = {267},

pages = {109313},

publisher = {Elsevier},

abstract = {The physiological, biochemical and molecular responses of scion/rootstock interactions in citrus plants under recurrent drought conditions are still poorly understood. The responses of ‘Tahiti acid lime’ (TAL) scions grafted to two rootstocks that have different survival strategies under drought conditions ‘Rangpur lime’ (RL) and ‘Sunki Maravilha mandarin’ (SM) were investigated during three periods of water deficit, WD1, WD2 and WD3 (plants exposed to one, two and three periods of water deficit, respectively). In the three drought periods, the ΨL was maintained at an average of -2.0 MPa. The TAL / SM and TAL / RL combinations showed, due to water deficit, hypermethylation and hypomethylation in the DNA methylation profiles respectively. The physiological parameters analyzed showed very close values for the TAL / SM and TAL / RL combinations, which indicates that the TAL does not respond to rootstock behavior with different response patterns to water deficit. Other findings suggest that the TAL scion is unresponsive to the plant hormone ABA, which plays a crucial role in plant responses to water deficit. The results show that the severity and recurrence of drought stress conditions reduced excessive ROS production through the action of the antioxidant enzymes, which confirms the different defense mechanisms to drought stress conditions that can be used by these scion/rootstock combinations. We concluded that the epigenetic marks they are involved in the responses to water deficit, conferring tolerance the citrus plants. In addition, in a recurrent water restriction condition the physiological parameters and the antioxidant system are genotype - dependent responsive. The present study addresses epigenetic modifications, physiological and biochemical mechanisms associated with drought tolerance in citrus plants.},

keywords = {Abscisic acid, Antioxidant enzymes, Citrus, DNA methylation, Epigenetics, water deficit},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{nokey,

title = {Rootstock-induced molecular responses associated with drought tolerance in sweet orange as revealed by RNA-Seq},

author = {Luana P. Gonçalves and Raquel L. Boscariol Camargo and Marco Aurélio Takita and Marcos A. Machado and Walter S. Dos Soares Filho and Marcio G. C. Costa},

url = {https://bmcgenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12864-019-5481-z},

doi = {10.1186/S12864-019-5481-Z/FIGURES/3},

issn = {14712164},

year  = {2019},

date = {2019-01-01},

journal = {BMC Genomics},

volume = {20},

issue = {1},

pages = {1-14},

publisher = {BioMed Central Ltd.},

abstract = {Background: Citrus plants are commercially propagated by grafting, with the rootstock variety influencing a number of horticultural traits, including drought tolerance. Among the different rootstock varieties available for citrus propagation, 'Rangpur' lime is known to confer enhanced tolerance to drought as compared to other citrus rootstocks. The objective of this study was to investigate the poorly understood molecular responses underlying the rootstock-induced drought tolerance in sweet orange. Results: RNA-Seq transcriptome analysis was carried out in leaves of sweet orange grafted on 'Rangpur' lime subjected to control and drought-stress treatments, under greenhouse conditions, using the Illumina HiSeq platform. A total of 41,827 unique transcripts were identified, among which 1764 transcripts showed significant variation (P ≤ 0.001) between the treatments, with 1081 genes induced and 683 repressed by drought-stress treatment. The transcripts were distributed in 44 different categories of cellular component, molecular function and biological process. Several genes related to cell metabolism, including those involved in the metabolisms of cell wall, carbohydrates and antioxidants, light reactions, biotic and abiotic stress responses, as well as genes coding for transcription factors (TFs), protein kinases (PKs) and proteins involved in the abscisic acid (ABA) and ethylene signaling pathways, were differentially regulated by drought stress. RNA-Seq data were validated by quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) analysis and comparative analysis of expression of the selected genes between sweet orange grafted on drought-tolerant and -sensitive rootstocks revealed new candidate genes for drought tolerance in citrus. Conclusions: In conclusion, our results showed that only a relatively small but functionally diverse fraction of the sweet orange transcriptome, with functions in metabolism, cellular responses and regulation, was differentially regulated by drought stress. The data suggest that the rootstock-induced drought tolerance in sweet orange includes the transcriptional activation of genes related to the cell wall, soluble carbohydrate and antioxidant metabolisms, biotic and abiotic stress responses, TFs, PKs and ABA signaling pathway, and the downregulation of genes involved in the starch metabolism, light reactions and ethylene signaling. Future efforts to elucidate their functional roles and explore their potential in the citrus genetic improvement should benefit from this data.},

keywords = {Abiotic stress, Citrus, Transcriptome, water deficit},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{nokey,

title = {Rootstock-induced molecular responses associated with drought tolerance in sweet orange as revealed by RNA-Seq},

author = {Luana P. Gonçalves and Raquel L. Boscariol Camargo and Marco Aurélio Takita and Marcos A. Machado and Walter S. Dos Soares Filho and Marcio G. C. Costa},

url = {https://bmcgenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12864-019-5481-z},

doi = {10.1186/S12864-019-5481-Z/FIGURES/3},

issn = {14712164},

year  = {2019},

date = {2019-01-01},

journal = {BMC Genomics},

volume = {20},

issue = {1},

pages = {1-14},

publisher = {BioMed Central Ltd.},

abstract = {Background: Citrus plants are commercially propagated by grafting, with the rootstock variety influencing a number of horticultural traits, including drought tolerance. Among the different rootstock varieties available for citrus propagation, 'Rangpur' lime is known to confer enhanced tolerance to drought as compared to other citrus rootstocks. The objective of this study was to investigate the poorly understood molecular responses underlying the rootstock-induced drought tolerance in sweet orange. Results: RNA-Seq transcriptome analysis was carried out in leaves of sweet orange grafted on 'Rangpur' lime subjected to control and drought-stress treatments, under greenhouse conditions, using the Illumina HiSeq platform. A total of 41,827 unique transcripts were identified, among which 1764 transcripts showed significant variation (P ≤ 0.001) between the treatments, with 1081 genes induced and 683 repressed by drought-stress treatment. The transcripts were distributed in 44 different categories of cellular component, molecular function and biological process. Several genes related to cell metabolism, including those involved in the metabolisms of cell wall, carbohydrates and antioxidants, light reactions, biotic and abiotic stress responses, as well as genes coding for transcription factors (TFs), protein kinases (PKs) and proteins involved in the abscisic acid (ABA) and ethylene signaling pathways, were differentially regulated by drought stress. RNA-Seq data were validated by quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) analysis and comparative analysis of expression of the selected genes between sweet orange grafted on drought-tolerant and -sensitive rootstocks revealed new candidate genes for drought tolerance in citrus. Conclusions: In conclusion, our results showed that only a relatively small but functionally diverse fraction of the sweet orange transcriptome, with functions in metabolism, cellular responses and regulation, was differentially regulated by drought stress. The data suggest that the rootstock-induced drought tolerance in sweet orange includes the transcriptional activation of genes related to the cell wall, soluble carbohydrate and antioxidant metabolisms, biotic and abiotic stress responses, TFs, PKs and ABA signaling pathway, and the downregulation of genes involved in the starch metabolism, light reactions and ethylene signaling. Future efforts to elucidate their functional roles and explore their potential in the citrus genetic improvement should benefit from this data.},

keywords = {Abiotic stress, Citrus, Transcriptome, water deficit},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{Santos2019,

title = {Physiological, biochemical and molecular responses to drought conditions in field-grown grafted and ungrafted citrus plants},

author = {Ivanildes Conceição Santos and Alex Alan Furtado Almeida and Carlos Priminho Pirovani and Marcio Gilberto Cardoso Costa and Alessandro Santos Conceição and Walter Santos Soares Filho and Mauricio Antônio Coelho Filho and Abelmon Silva Gesteira},

doi = {10.1016/J.ENVEXPBOT.2019.03.018},

issn = {0098-8472},

year  = {2019},

date = {2019-01-01},

journal = {Environmental and Experimental Botany},

volume = {162},

pages = {406-420},

publisher = {Elsevier},

abstract = {The physiological, biochemical and molecular alterations developed by plants under soil water restriction, especially rootstock, is important to elucidate the mechanisms associated to drought tolerance. In order to verify the influence of rootstock and grafting on drought tolerance of citrus plants, we examined water status, photosynthesis, oxidative stress and gene expression in grafted and ungrafted citrus plants subjected to different soil water regimes (well-watered, moderate and severe drought and rehydrated) under field conditions. Analysis were performed in roots and leaves of six plant combinations: ungrafted ‘Rangpur Santa Cruz’ lime (RL) and ‘Sunki Maravilha’ mandarin (SM), RL and SM grafted onto themselves (RL/RL and SM/SM) and ‘Valencia’ sweet orange (VO) grafted onto RL or SM (VO/RL and VO/SM). Drought stress reduced chloroplastid pigment contents and limited the photosynthetic rate, mainly in RL/RL plants. In contrast, the lowest leaf osmotic potential, the best osmotic adjustment and the greater phenotypic plasticity were observed in SM, SM/SMand VO/SM plants. Phenotypic plasticity and the main components of multivariate analysis showed that the physiological variables, such as Fv/F0, F0/Fm and Fv/Fm, were more responsive to soil water deficit. An increase in the superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and transcript abundance of mitochondrial SOD [Mn-Fe], especially in the scion onto RL, and chloroplastidic SOD [Cu -Zn], inthe scion onto SM, was also observed under water deficit. Besides, an induction of transcription of genes coding for catalase (CAT X2) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) was also observed, respectively, in leaves and roots of plants subjected to water deficit. However, such transcription increment did not affect the activity of these enzymes, especially in RL/RL plants. RL plants were more effective in soil water extraction than SM plants, evidenced mainly by the maintenance of leaf gas exchange and increase in the leaf relative water content after rehydration. The grafted plants showed alterations in their responses to the stress factor, expressed by a reduction of photosynthetic rates, changes in pigment contents, activity of antioxidant enzymes and expression of genes associated to the antioxidant metabolism, mainly in RL/RL plants. Plants with ‘Valencia’ scion, regardless of the rootstock studied, showed similar physiological, biochemical and molecular responses when exposed to soil water deficit. Multivariate analysis showed that Fv/F0, F0/Fm and Fv/Fm were the most important physiological variables for discriminating citrus plants subjected to control and soil water deficit conditions.},

keywords = {Citrus rootstock, Gene expression, Oxidative stress, photosynthesis, water deficit},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{Sousa2018,

title = {Drought tolerance of a microcitrangemonia when treated with paclobutrazol and exposed to different water conditions},

author = {Eliana Maria Rocha Sousa and Luciana Silva Almeida and Andressa Rodrigues Oliveira Sousa and Matheus Carvalho Silva and Carlos Alberto Silva Ledo and Alex Alan Furtado Almeida and Marcio Gilberto Cardoso Costa and Mauricio Antônio Coelho Filho and Walter Santos Soares Filho and Abelmon Silva Gesteira},

doi = {10.1016/J.SCIENTA.2018.04.038},

issn = {0304-4238},

year  = {2018},

date = {2018-01-01},

journal = {Scientia Horticulturae},

volume = {238},

pages = {75-82},

publisher = {Elsevier},

abstract = {The microcitrangemonia [RPL (‘Rangpur’ lime) x YMCT (‘Yuma’ citrange) - 005] x MCP (Microcitrus papuana) - 011 (H011) demonstrates characteristics of agronomic interest that may benefit citriculture in different aspects, such as tolerance to water stress, irregularity of rainfall and lack of irrigation, which can cause drought stress conditions. In other varieties, one of the alternatives other than the use of tolerant varieties is the use of substances like paclobutrazol (PBZ). However, for citrus, there is a lack of information regarding the use of PBZ and the response to water deficit. The objective of this work was to evaluate the physiological behavior of H011 when compared to ‘Rangpur’ lime, both as rootstocks to ‘Valencia’ sweet orange and as nucellar seedlings, when exposed to different water conditions and to PBZ. The plants were cultivated in the presence and absence of PBZ and exposed to two water regimes (constant irrigation and water deficit), while water, physiological and morphological alterations were evaluated. The plants cultivated in the presence of PBZ in the soil showed greater tolerance to water deficit, and H011 as a nucellar seedling and as rootstock demonstrated greater efficiency in the use of water over time. The strategy adopted by H011 differed from the way of survival adopted by ‘Rangpur’ lime. Therefore, H011 presents the potential to be used in studies related to water stress tolerance in citrus.},

keywords = {Citrus, Cultivation, Hybrid, water deficit},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}