Anaerobic treatment of maize roots affects transcription of Adh1 and transcript stability

Among the adaptations to stress exhibited by plants is the anaerobic response of roots, induced by submerging roots in water. The response consists of a programmed change in gene expression: proteins produced under aerobic conditions are no longer synthesized but are replaced by approximately 20 so-called anaerobic peptides (M. M. Sachs, M. Freeling, and R. Okimoto, Cell 20:761-767, 1980). The gene for maize alcohol dehydrogenase I (Adh1) is expressed at high levels under such conditions. We report here that changes in alcohol dehydrogenase I RNA levels in anaerobic roots are associated with changes in both transcription rate and transcript stability.