Response of Asplenium nidus to Drought Stress and Identification of Drought Tolerance Genes

Abstract

To explore how Asplenium nidus responds to drought stress, and to mine drought-responsive genes for Asplenium nidus, we conducted a pot experiment in the IOT smart greenhouse. We measured a series of physiological and biochemical indexes for drought-treated plants, and analyzed the expression of drought-responsive genes in Asplenium nidus by RT-qPCR. The results show that the Asplenium nidus is a species with drought tolerance. Asplenium nidus inhibits plant photosynthesis and reduces life activities by limiting stomatal opening to adapt to drought. To resist drought stress, the Asplenium nidus changes the osmotic potential by increasing the proline content to maintain normal metabolic activities and prevents the damage of active oxygen by increasing the enzyme activities of SOD and POD. Based on the analysis of the relative expression levels of genes, AVP1-2 and AVP1-4 may be drought-resistant genes in Asplenium nidus. This study lays the foundation for in-depth research on drought tolerance mechanisms and drought-resistant gene mining of Asplenium nidus.