Natural variation identifies genes affecting drought-induced abscisic acid accumulation in Arabidopsis thaliana

Significance Abscisic acid (ABA) accumulates to high levels during drought stress, and ABA levels, in turn, control many downstream responses that determine plant growth, productivity, and survival during drought. Despite the central importance of ABA, we know little of how drought stress elicits ABA accumulation, how different aspects of ABA metabolism are coordinated to match the level of ABA to stress severity, or how variation in ABA accumulation may contribute to environmental adaptation. When exposed to an equal severity of water limitation, Arabidopsis thaliana accessions exhibited wide variation in their ABA content. These results allowed us to identify effectors of ABA accumulation and also indicated that variation in ABA accumulation may contribute to variation in other drought-related traits.