Characterising the response of rice and wheat coleoptiles to anoxia and re-oxygenation

[Truncated] Floods are estimated to affect 17 million km2 of land worldwide, threatening the productivity of several major crops. A key consequence of this is the creation of a physical barrier that causes oxygen deprivation in plants and thus inhibition of aerobic respiration, the most efficient means of ATP production. As a result, plants must rely on glycolysis, a less efficient means of ATP synthesis, in order to survive. Crop anoxia tolerance is highly variable; on one end of the spectrum is rice (Oryza sativa), which has been known to survive for weeks without oxygen, showing exceptional abilities to germinate, develop a coleoptile and grow under strict anoxia. In contrast, species such as wheat (Triticum aestivum), a dry-land winter crop, can endure anoxia for only a short period of time, and fails to germinate or grow when oxygen deprived.

While biochemical comparisons between rice and wheat responses to anoxia exist, little information was available at the proteomic and metabolomic level. Furthermore, research on the consequences of re-oxygenation, an inevitable event for plant survival, is scarcely described. Thus, the research presented in this thesis aimed to characterise the molecular responses of rice and wheat coleoptiles to anoxia and re-oxygenation.