ARS | Publication request: Dehydration-stress affects vegetative reproduction and transcriptome profiles in underground adventitious buds of leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula)

Submitted to: Weed Science Society of America Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: January 9, 2009
Publication Date: February 1, 2009
Citation: Dogramaci, M., Horvath, D.P., Christoffers, M., Anderson, J.V. 2009. Dehydration-stress affects vegetative reproduction and transcriptome profiles in underground adventitious buds of leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula). [Abstract] Weed Science Society of America Meeting Abstracts. #45.

Technical Abstract: Leafy spurge is an invasive perennial weed that infests mainly range, recreational and right-of-way lands in the great plains of the US and Canada. Although spread occurs by both seeds and roots, the perennial nature of leafy spurge is attributed to vegetative reproduction from an abundance of underground adventitious buds commonly referred to as crown and root buds. The ability of herbaceous perennial weeds, like leafy spurge, to regenerate new shoot growth by vegetative reproduction from crown and root buds after severe abiotic stress is critical for survival. Since leafy spurge plants are often challenged by dehydration-stress during their perennial life cycle, the objective of this study was to determine how mild and severe dehydration-stress affects vegetative reproduction from crown and root buds, and to link relationships associated with molecular pathways affected by dehydration-stress. Microarray analysis was used to follow transcriptome profiles to identify critical defense and signaling pathways that may be linked to survival of crown and root buds during dehydration-stress. In a preliminary study, vegetative reproduction was determined at ten different time points during dehydration-stress, and the critical points (day-0, -3, -7, -14, -16, -21) were chosen for further study. cDNAs were generated from both crown bud and root bud samples collected separately during the dehydration study, and were hybridized to 23K element Euphorbiaceae-specific microarrays. The dosage of dehydration affected vegetative production from these buds. Transciptome analyses revealed that 280 and 254 genes (q value = 0.005) were differently expressed during dehydration stress in the crown buds and root buds, respectively. Differentially-expressed genes included functional ontologies, as defined by MIPS, that regulate metabolic functions, responses to stress (including osmotic and salt, oxidative, and heat shock), transport functions, DNA and RNA processing, binding (primarily protein, nucleic acid, DNA, and calcium), protein synthesis and processing, the cell cycle, cellular sensing and response to external stimulus, and cell and plant development.