Highest Defoliation Tolerance in Plants at Panicle Development Is Associated With Sugar Starvation Responses.

Defoliation tolerance (DT) in is known to reach its apex at the panicle emergence (PE) phase and to decline to minimal levels at flowering (FL). In this study, defoliation-induced changes were recorded in the content of non-structural carbohydrates and raffinose family oligosaccharides (RFOs), and in the expression and/or activity of sugar starvation response-associated genes in plants defoliated at different vegetative and reproductive stages. This strategy identified sugar-starvation-related factors that explained the opposite DT observed at these key developmental stages.

Identification of Factors Linked to Higher Water-Deficit Stress Tolerance in Compared to Other Grain Amaranths and , Their Shared Ancestor.

Water deficit stress (WDS)-tolerance in grain amaranths (, and A. ), and , their presumed shared ancestor, was examined. was the most WDS-tolerant species, a trait that correlated with an enhanced osmotic adjustment (OA), a stronger expression of abscisic acid (ABA) marker genes and a more robust sugar starvation response (SSR).