Exposure of two Eutrema salsugineum (Thellungiella salsuginea) accessions to water deficits reveals different coping strategies in response to drought.

Eutrema salsugineum is an extremophile related to Arabidopsis. Accessions from Yukon, Canada and Shandong, China, were evaluated for their tolerance to water deficits. Plants were exposed to two periods of water deficit separated by an interval of re-watering and recovery.

Transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis of Yukon Thellungiella plants grown in cabinets and their natural habitat show phenotypic plasticity.

Background: Thellungiella salsuginea is an important model plant due to its natural tolerance to abiotic stresses including salt, cold, and water deficits. Microarray and metabolite profiling have shown that Thellungiella undergoes stress-responsive changes in transcript and organic solute abundance when grown under controlled environmental conditions. However, few reports assess the capacity of plants to display stress-responsive traits in natural habitats where concurrent stresses are the norm.