Comparisons of early transcriptome responses to low-oxygen environments in three dicotyledonous plant species

Waterlogging is a serious impediment to crop productivity worldwide which acts to reduce oxygen levels in the rhizosphere due to the low diffusion rate of molecular oxygen in water. Plants respond to low oxygen through rapid and specific changes at both the transcriptional and translational levels. Transcriptional changes to low-oxygen (hypoxia) stress have been studied in a number of plant species using whole genome microarrays. Using transcriptome data from root tissue from early time points (4-5 h) from cotton (Gossypium hirsutum), Arabidopsis and gray poplar (Populus x canescens), we have identified a core set of orthologous genes that responded to hypoxia in similar ways between species, and others that showed species specific responses. Responses to hypoxia were most similar between Arabidopsis and cotton, while the waterlogging tolerant poplar species exhibited some significant differences.