Project description:The potato is susceptible to water stress at all stages of development. We examined four clones of tetraploid potato, Cardinal, Desirée, Clone 37 FB and Mije, from the germplasm bank of the National Institute of Agricultural Research (INIA) in Chile. Water stress was applied by suspending irrigation at the beginning of tuberization. Stomatal conductance, tuber and plant fresh and dry weight was used to categorize water stress tolerance. Cardinal had high susceptibility to water stress. Desirée was less suscepetible than Cardinal and had some characteristics of tolerance. Mije had moderate and Clon 37 FB high tolerance. Differential gene expression in leaves from plants with and without water stress were examined using transcriptome sequencing. Water stress susceptible Cardinal had the fewest differentially expressed genes at 101, compared to Desirée at 1867, Clon 37 FB at 1179 and Mije at 1010. Water stress tolerance was associated with up-regulation of expression of transcription factor genes and genes involved in osmolyte and polyamine biosynthesis. Increased expression of genes encoding late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) and dehydrin proteins along with decreased expression of genes involved in nitrate assimilation and amino acid metabolism were found for clones showing water stress tolerance. The results also show that water deficit was associated with reduced biotic stress responses. Additionally, heat shock protein genes were differentially expressed in all clones except for highly susceptible Cardinal. Together the gene expression study demonstrates variation in the molecular pathways and biological processes in response to water stress contributing to tolerance and susceptibility.
Project description:Nitrogen (N) fertilization is an important abiotic factor for the growth of potato (S. tuberosum) because of its potential effects on yield. Because excess N in the soil runs off into water systems and negatively impacts the environment, studies on N use by the plant are key to decrease N-fertilizer use. Three commercial potato cultivars (Shepody, Russet-Burbank and Atlantic) were grown under two different rates of applied N-fertilizer (0 kg N ha-1 and 180 kg N ha-1) to obtain more information on the underlying gene regulation mechanisms associated with N. Plants with no added N had significantly lower concentrations of petiole nitrates, chlorophyll level indices, biomass and yield per hectare. Total mRNA samples were taken at two different time-points during the growth season and used for sequencing. The results for each cultivar and time-point were analysed separately to find differentially expressed genes. In total, thirty genes were found to be over-expressed and nine genes were found to be under-expressed in plants from all potato cultivars when they were grown with added N-fertilizer. The 1000 bp upstream flanking regions of the differentially expressed genes were analysed to find overrepresented motifs using three motif discovery algorithms (Seeder, Weeder and MEME). Nine different motifs were found, indicating potential gene regulatory mechanisms for potato under N-deficiency.
Project description:Ultrasound (US) can influence plant growth and development. To better understand the genetic mechanism underlying the physiological response of potato to US, single-node segments of four-week-old in vitro plantlets were subjected to US at 35 kHz for 20 min. Following mRNA purification, 10 cDNA libraries were assessed by RNA-seq and significantly differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were categorized by gene ontology (GO) or Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) identifiers. The expression intensity of 40,430 genes from a total pool of 45,112 genes were studied. From these, several hundred genes associated with biosynthesis, carbohydrate metabolism and catabolism, cellular protein modification, and response to stress, and expressed mainly in the extracellular region, nucleus, and plasma membrane, were either up- or down-regulated in response to US. This study examines how some processes evolved over time (0 h, 24 h, 48 h, 1 week and 4 weeks) after an abiotic stress (US) was imposed on in vitro potato explants, and provides important clues to the temporal dynamics in enzyme and DEG profiles in response to this stress as the explant becomes established in vitro. Despite this abiotic stress, plantlets survived.
Project description:Potato leaves From Solanum tuberosum var. Kennebec will be wounded and oral secretions from 4th instar CPB will be isolated and added to the plants as described by Kruzmane et al (2002, Physiol. Plantarum 115:577-584). The leaf from the 6th node of the potato plant will be wounded or wounded and treated with oral secretions from CPB. Unwounded leaves from node 1-5 of the wounded and wounded plus oral secretions plants will be harvested as systemic material. The leaves will be harvested after 4 hrs and RNA will be isolated. 4 hrs was chosen because this represents a time when early and late induced genes should both be present. In addition, the leaf from the 6th node will be subjected to feeding by CPB that have been raised on potato leaves and starved for 16 hrs immediately prior to infestation. Insects will be allowed to feed for 1 hr and the leaves will be harvested after 3 additional hrs. An additional set of plants will be used to infest the leaf on the 6th node for 4 hrs. Leaves from the 6th node will be collected from uninfested plants after 4 hrs as a control. Three sets of 6-12 plants will be used for each sample. Keywords: Direct comparison
Project description:As part of a wider project to assess the impact of ultrasound on in vitro plant growth, this paper aimed to determine whether the application of piezoelectric ultrasound (PE-US) would induce changes to the transcriptome of in vitro potato (Solanum tuberosum L.). After exposing explants (single-node segments with a single leaf) to PE-US (35 kHz; 70 W) for 20 min, the effect of this stressor was determined at 0 h, 24 h, 48 h, 1 w and 4 w to assess the possible immediate and residual effects of PE-US on the potato transcriptome.
Project description:Leaf development is a complex process and factors such as size, shape, curvature, compounding, and texture determine the final leaf morphology. MicroRNA160 is one of the crucial players that has been shown to regulate lamina formation and compounding in tomato. In this study, we show that miR160 also regulates leaf curvature in potato. miR160 targets a group of Auxin Response Factors - StARF10, StARF16, and StARF17 - that are proposed to function majorly as repressors of auxin signaling. We observed that overexpression of miR160 (miR160-OE) results in decrease in the levels of these ARFs along with hypersensitivity to exogenous auxin treatment, whereas knockdown of miR160 (miR160-KD) causes increased ARF levels and auxin hyposensitivity. The leaves of miR160-OE plants have a high positive curvature, but of miR160-KD plants are flattened compared to wildtype. A prolonged activation of cell cycle - as indicated by increased levels of StCYCLIND3;2 - in the center region of miR160-OE leaves appears to have caused this positive curvature. However, a comparable StTCP4 activity at both center and margin regions of miR160-KD leaves could be the cause for its flattened leaf phenotype. In summary, we show that miR160 plays an important role in regulating leaf curvature in potato plants.
Project description:Potato leaves From Solanum tuberosum var. Kennebec will be wounded and oral secretions from 4th instar CPB will be isolated and added to the plants as described by Kruzmane et al (2002, Physiol. Plantarum 115:577-584). The leaf from the 6th node of the potato plant will be wounded or wounded and treated with oral secretions from CPB. Unwounded leaves from node 1-5 of the wounded and wounded plus oral secretions plants will be harvested as systemic material. The leaves will be harvested after 4 hrs and RNA will be isolated. 4 hrs was chosen because this represents a time when early and late induced genes should both be present. In addition, the leaf from the 6th node will be subjected to feeding by CPB that have been raised on potato leaves and starved for 16 hrs immediately prior to infestation. Insects will be allowed to feed for 1 hr and the leaves will be harvested after 3 additional hrs. An additional set of plants will be used to infest the leaf on the 6th node for 4 hrs. Leaves from the 6th node will be collected from uninfested plants after 4 hrs as a control. Three sets of 6-12 plants will be used for each sample. Keywords: Direct comparison 24 hybs total