Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 27, 2026

Measuring Gene Expression in Bombarded Barley Aleurone Layers with Increased Throughput
Published on: March 30, 2018
A central role of abscisic acid in stress-regulated carbohydrate metabolism
Stefan Kempa1, Julia Krasensky, Silvia Dal Santo
1Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria.
Background:
Abiotic stresses adversely affect plant growth and development. The hormone abscisic acid (ABA) plays a central role in the response and adaptation to environmental constraints. However, apart from the well established role of ABA in regulating gene expression programmes, little is known about its function in plant stress metabolism.
Principal Findings:
Using an integrative multiparallel approach of metabolome and transcriptome analyses, we studied the dynamic response of the model glyophyte Arabidopsis thaliana to ABA and high salt conditions. Our work shows that salt stress induces complex re-adjustment of carbohydrate metabolism and that ABA triggers the initial steps of carbon mobilisation.
Significance:
These findings open new perspectives on how high salinity and ABA impact on central carbohydrate metabolism and highlight the power of iterative combinatorial approaches of non-targeted and hypothesis-driven experiments in stress biology.
Related Concept Videos
Adaptations that Reduce Water Loss
Regulation of Transpiration by Stomata
Responses to Heat and Cold Stress
C4 Pathway and CAM
C4 Pathway
The C4 pathway is used by plants such as...
Overview of Carbohydrate Metabolism
Glucose transport into cells is facilitated by a family of transport proteins called GLUT (Glucose Transporters). GLUT4 is the primary glucose transporter for insulin-stimulated glucose...
Responses to Drought and Flooding
