Stable isotopes and metabolite profiles as physiological markers for the drought stress sensitivity

• Antragsteller: Professor Dr. Arthur Gessler
• Fachliche Zuordnung: Forstwissenschaften
• Förderung: Förderung von 2009 bis 2013
• Projektkennung: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 141927902

The main goal of the research project is to characterise the response of Douglas fir provenances to drought on the physiological and biochemical level. We aim to detect physiological and metabolic markers for drought sensitivity/tolerance of provenances. On the on hand stable Isotope techniques will be applied to characterise intrinsic water use efficiency, stomatal reactions and transpiration patterns during current growing seasons as well as retrospectively at sites varying in water availability and under controlled conditions. One major focus is to characterise post-photosynthetic changes in the carbon and oxygen isotope composition and to include these factors into models to correctly translate isotope signals into physiological parameters. Changes in the metabolite profiles will be characterised to (i) detected marker metabolites for drought stress responses and to identify (ii) changes in metabolic pathways in reaction to drought and they will be linked to changes in inter-organ carbon partitioning. The assessment of physiological reactions and metabolic markers functionally connects the genetic level assessments (P1 of the application package) with phenotypic studies (P3) and assessments of ecological functions (P4).

• DFG-Verfahren: Sachbeihilfen
• Beteiligte Person: Professor Dr. Heinz Rennenberg