ARS | Publication request: Regulation of sprout growth in potato tubers during storage

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: March 16, 2011
Publication Date: August 6, 2011
Citation: Campbell, M.A., Suttle, J.C. 2011. Regulation of sprout growth in potato tubers during storage [abstract.] Plant Biology 2011. Abstract #P01013. Available: http://abstracts.aspb.org/pb2011/public/P01/P01013.html.

Technical Abstract: The commercial storage of potato tubers is largely dependent on the natural process of meristem dormancy and the application of growth suppressants or sprout inhibitors. Currently there are a limited number of compounds that can be applied to potato tubers to prevent sprouting. One of the most common is isopropyl N-(3-chlorophenyl) carbamate (CIPC), which has been used to control sprouting for over four decades. There has been recent interest in developing new methods of controlling sprout growth including using number of natural products such as 1,4-dimethylnapthalene (DMN). Treatment of potato tubers with CIPC and DMN does not prolong the dormant state via the maintenance of abscisic acid levels. Analysis using cDNA spotted microarrays revealed that CIPC and DMN elicit significant differences in transcript profiles and neither sprout inhibitor appeared to maintain transcripts associated with the dormant state. A detailed analysis of transcript profiles using an Agilent oligonucleotide array developed by the Potato Oligo Chip Initiative was conducted and revealed that DMN resulted in an increase in transcripts encoding for proteins associated with water and osmotic regulation and a decrease in transcripts encoding for proteins involved with the cell cycle. QT-PCR was used to target a number of cell cycle transcripts and DMN was shown to increase RNA for the cell division regulators KIP1 and KIP2, which are members of the cip/kip family of tumor suppressors. It can be concluded that the regulation of sprout growth by CIPC and DMN occurs through different mechanisms of action and DMN may be suppressing growth by inhibiting progression through the cell cycle.