1. Transcriptional analysis of flowering time in switchgrass
BRC Science Highlight
Transcriptional analysis of flowering time in switchgrass
Objective Identify flowering time gene candidates that could be employed to manipulate flowering time in upland, cold-tolerant switchgrass cultivars, in order to increase total biomass yield for these northern accessions.
Approach
Conduct an ortholog search using flowering time genes from other species to identify putative flowering time genes in switchgrass
Collect various tissue samples in a developmental series from emergence through anthesis
Extract and sequence RNA from the various samples
Conduct principal component analysis (PCA) to identify differentially expressed genes among the genotypes, ecotypes, and flowering time groups
Conduct differential expression analysis of 101 switchgrass flowering time orthologs
Notes:
text
Title again:
Text 1-2 sentence summary?
Switchgrass orthologs of two known flowering time genes are differentially expressed between genotypes from two ecotypes.
Results/Impacts
Orthologs of known flowering time genes had either ecotype- or flowering time-specific patterns, allowing for the possible separation of flowering time traits from other traits used in breeding or transgenic manipulation efforts.
Known flowering time gene orthologs from multiple pathways, particularly the photoperiod/clock and autonomous pathways, were differentially expressed between genotypes with differing flowering times, indicating conservation of these pathways, at least in part, across species.
The candidate genes presented here may be used to guide switchgrass improvement through marker-assisted breeding and/or transgenic or gene editing approaches.
Tornqvist, C.-E. et al. “Transcriptional analysis of flowering time in switchgrass.” BioEnergy Research 10, (2017) [DOI: /s ].
GLBRC August 2017