Project description:Breeding day-neutral strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa Duchesne) is pivotal to extend fruit-bearing season and increase the efficiency of production. However, genetic improvement of day-neutrality by the means of molecular marker technologies remains slow due to genome complexity of octoploid strawberry. This study employs an innovative approach by integrating the Subtracted Diversity Array (SDA) technology and Bulked Segregant Analysis (BSA) to facilitate the identification of molecular markers associated with day-neutrality in octoploid strawberry. A Fragaria Discovery Panel (FDP) containing 287 features specific to strawberry genome was constructed as a platform for rapid screening of DNA polymorphism between one short day (SD) strawberry DNA bulk and three day-neutral (DN) bulks varrying in flowering strength. Differential array hybridisation patterns between the DN and SD bulks revealed a novel molecular marker, FaP2E11, closely linked to CYTOKININ OXIDASE 1 (CKX1) gene possibly involved in promoting flowering under non-inductive condition. Interestingly, a 12 bp deletion was observed within the FaP2E11 sequence cloned from SD genotypes but not DN genotypes. As cytokinin is required to induce flowering, this result indicates that full sequence of FaP2E11 and the sequence with deletion are allelic variants linked to the low enzyme activity CKX1 and the wild type alleles, respectively.
Project description:Strawberry is economically important and widely grown but susceptible to a large variety of phytopathogenic organisms. Among them, Xanthomonas fragariae is a quarantine bacterial pathogen threatening strawberry productions by causing angular leaf spots. Using whole transcriptome sequencing, gene expression of both plant and bacteria in planta was analyzed at two time points, 12- and 29-days post inoculation, in order to compare pathogen and host response between the stages of early visible and of well-developed symptoms. Among 28’588 known genes in strawberry and 4’046 known genes in X. fragariae expressed at both time points, a total of 361 plant and 144 bacterial genes were significantly differentially expressed, respectively. The identified higher expressed genes in the plants were pathogen-associated molecular pattern receptors and pathogenesis related thaumatin encoding genes, whereas the more expressed early genes were related to chloroplast metabolism as well as photosynthesis related coding genes. Most of X. fragariae genes involved in host interactions, recognitions and pathogenesis, were lower expressed at late-phase infection. This study gives a first insight on the interaction of X. fragariae with its host. The strawberry plant changed its metabolism consistently with the progression of infection.
Project description:To identify miRNAs involved in senescence of strawberry fruit, two independent small RNA libraries and one degradome library from strawberry fruits stored at 20 M-BM-0C for 0 and 24 h were constructed. A total of 18,759,735 and 20,293,492 mappable small RNA sequences were generated in the two small RNA libraries, respectively, and 88 known and 1224 new candidate miRNAs were obtained. Among them, 94 miRNAs were up-regulated and 64 were down-regulated in the senescence of strawberry fruit. Through degradome sequencing, 103 targets cleaved by 19 known miRNAs families and 55 new candidate miRNAs were identified. 14 targets, including NAC transcription factor, Auxin response factors (ARF) and Myb transcription factors, cleaved by 6 known miRNA families and 6 predicted candidates, were found to be involved in regulating fruit senescence. sample 1: Examination of small RNA in strawberry fruits stored at 20 M-BM-0C for 0; sample 2: Examination of small RNA in strawberry fruits stored at 20 M-BM-0C for 24 h
Project description:To identify miRNAs involved in senescence of strawberry fruit, two independent small RNA libraries and one degradome library from strawberry fruits stored at 20 °C for 0 and 24 h were constructed. A total of 18,759,735 and 20,293,492 mappable small RNA sequences were generated in the two small RNA libraries, respectively, and 88 known and 1224 new candidate miRNAs were obtained. Among them, 94 miRNAs were up-regulated and 64 were down-regulated in the senescence of strawberry fruit. Through degradome sequencing, 103 targets cleaved by 19 known miRNAs families and 55 new candidate miRNAs were identified. 14 targets, including NAC transcription factor, Auxin response factors (ARF) and Myb transcription factors, cleaved by 6 known miRNA families and 6 predicted candidates, were found to be involved in regulating fruit senescence.
Project description:To assess underlying metabolic processes and regulatory mechanisms during cold exposure of strawberry, integrative “omic” approaches were applied to F. ananassa ‘Korona’. Analysis of leaf tissue was emphasized because of its immediate and early responses in the cold acclimation processes. Levels of metabolites, proteins, and transcripts in tissues from plants grown at 20°C were compared to those following 1 to 10 days of cold exposure. When leaves and roots were subjected to GC/TOF-MS-based metabolite profiling, about 160 compounds comprising mostly structurally annotated primary metabolites and secondary metabolites, were found. Overall, ‘Korona’ showed a modest increase of protective metabolites such as amino acids (aspartic acid, leucine, isoleucine, and valine), pentoses, phosphorylated and non-phosphorylated hexoses, and distinct compounds of the raffinose pathway (galactinol and raffinose). Distinctive responses were observed in roots and leaves. By 2DE proteomics a total of 845 spots were observed in leaves; 4.6% changed significantly in response to cold. Twenty-one proteins were identified, many of which were associated with general metabolism or photosynthesis. Transcript levels in leaves were determined by microarray, where dozens of cold associated transcripts were quantitatively characterized, and levels of several potential key contributors (e.g., the dehydrin COR47 and GADb) to cold tolerance were confirmed by qRT-PCR. Cold responses are placed within the existing knowledge base of low temperature stress change in plants, allowing an evaluation of the uniqueness or generality of Fragaria responses in photosynthetic tissues. Overall, the cold response characteristics of ‘Korona’ are consistent with a moderately cold tolerant plant.