A preliminary study on genotypic differences in transcript abundance of drought-responsive genes in sugar beet.

In this study, four sugar beet genotypes of differing responses to drought were selected from a field experiment conducted under well-watered and water-limited conditions in 2004. In addition, two candidate genes: 2-cysteine peroxiredoxin (2-cys prx) and Nucleoside Diphosphate Kinase (NDPK), thought to be associated with drought tolerance, were chosen from a previous proteomics study in sugar beet. An expression analysis of the two drought-regulated genes using semi-quantitative reverse transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) indicated that there were genotypic differences in the transcript abundance of the candidate genes with the differences in the expression level of 2-cys prx being likely associated with the drought responses of the genotypes in a two-year field study.