Combined physiological responses and differential expression of drought-responsive genes preliminarily explain the drought resistance mechanism of Lotus corniculatus.

Lotus corniculatus L. is a perennial high-quality legume forage species but is vulnerable to drought, and water deficit reduces productivity. To understand the drought response mechanism of L. corniculatus , we investigated physiological responses under drought stress and constructed suppression subtractive hybridisation (SSH) cDNA libraries to isolate drought-inducible genes and quantitatively study the expression levels of candidate drought- responsive genes. Genes encoding calmodulin-like protein, mitogen-activated protein kinase, indole-3-acetic acid-induced protein, ser/thr-protein phosphatase homolog-related proteins, and β -galactosidase-related protein with hydrolysis activity were isolated and considered the main factors that explained the resistance of L. corniculatus to drought. Approximately 632 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) were identified and confirmed in the constructed SSH library. The Gene Ontology (GO) analysis revealed that these genes were involved mainly in transcription processes, protein synthesis, material metabolism, catalytic reactions, sugar metabolism, and photosynthesis. The interaction between the functions of these drought-related genes and the physiological responses preliminarily explains the drought resistance mechanisms of L. corniculatus .