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Science 29 January 2010:
Vol. 327. no. 5965, p. 546
DOI: 10.1126/science.1183672
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Role of ABA and ABI3 in Desiccation Tolerance

A. Khandelwal,1 S. H. Cho,2 H. Marella,3 Y. Sakata,4 P.-F. Perroud,5 A. Pan,1 R. S. Quatrano5,*

We show in bryophytes that abscisic acid (ABA) pretreatment of moss (Physcomitrella patens) cells confers desiccation tolerance. In angiosperms, both ABA and the transcriptional regulator ABSCISIC ACID INSENSITIVE 3 (ABI3) are required to protect the seed during desiccation. ABA was not able to protect moss cells in stable deletion lines of ABI3 ({Delta}Ppabi3). Hence, moss has the same functional link between ABA, ABI3, and the desiccation tolerance phenotype that is found in angiosperms. Furthermore, we identified 22 genes that were induced during ABA pretreatment in wild-type lines. When their expression was compared with that of {Delta}Ppabi3 during ABA pretreatment and immediately after desiccation, a new target of ABI3 action appears to be in the recovery period.

1 Monsanto Company, 700 Chesterfield Parkway West, St. Louis, MO 63017, USA.
2 Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA 16802, USA.
3 Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, MO 63132, USA.
4 Department of BioScience, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Tokyo 156-8502, Japan.
5 Department of Biology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: rsq{at}wustl.edu

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)