Low water potentials affect expression of genes encoding vegetative storage proteins and plasma membrane proton ATPase in soybean.

We have examined growth, water status and gene expression in dark-grown soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) seedlings in response to water deficit (low water potentials) during the first days following germination. The genes encoded the plasma membrane proton ATPase and two proteins of 28 kDa and 31 kDa putatively involved in vegetative storage. Water potentials of stems and roots decreased when 2-day-old seedlings were transferred to water-saturated air. Stem growth was inhibited immediately. Root growth continued at control rates for one day and then was totally inhibited when the normal root-stem water potential gradient was reversed. Expression of mRNA for the 28 kDa and 31 kDa proteins, measured independently using specific 3'-end probes, occurred about equally in stems. However, only the mRNA for the 31 kDa protein was detected in roots and at a lower abundance than in stems. Low water potentials increased the mRNA only for the 28 kDa protein in stems and the 31 kDa protein in roots. This differential expression followed the inhibition of stem growth but preceded the inhibition of root growth. The expression of the message for the ATPase, measured using a probe synthesized from a partial oat ATPase clone, was low in stems and roots but there was a 6-fold increase at low water potentials in roots. The increase followed the inhibition of root growth. This appears to be the first instance of regulation of ATPase gene expression in plants and the first demonstration of differential expression of the 28 kDa, 31 kDa, and ATPase messages. The correlation with the differential growth responses of the stems and roots raises the possibility that the differential gene expression could be involved in the growth response to low water potentials.