Drought-associated genes exhibit high constitutive expression in Quercus douglasii, a drought-tolerant California oak.

Summary: Imagine you live in a place where it almost never rains. To survive, you might wait until it gets dry to put on your armor, or you could just wear it all the time! Scientists studied a tough California tree called the blue oak to see how it survives droughts. They looked at the tree's genes (its instruction manual) when it was well-watered and when it was dried out. They found that instead of turning on its "drought defense" genes only when water is low, this tough oak keeps those defense genes turned on all the time! This "always ready" strategy helps the tree stay strong even when the weather gets really dry.